Elizabeth Smart, kidnapped in 2002, ‘grateful’ for what she learned
Kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart told an audience in Pittsburgh on Friday that she’s grateful for the 9-month ordeal she went through as a 14-year-old because it left her with empathy, understanding and a lifetime mission to assist other victims of kidnapping and sexual assault.
“I’m not sorry it happened,” said Ms. Smart, 31, at the annual fundraising campaign kickoff for United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Women’s Leadership Council.
The events of her 2002 abduction from her parents’ home near Salt Lake City and eventual rescue generated worldwide media coverage and have provided fodder for books and a television movie.
The man who abducted her was convicted on federal kidnapping charges and is serving two life terms. His wife served eight years in prison and now lives in a halfway house in Salt Lake City.
Ms. Smart, who earned a music degree from Brigham Young University, now heads a foundation, works as a broadcast commentator and travels as a speaker and advocate for trauma victims. She also lobbies for legislation to protect victims.
She is married and the mother of three small children.
“I don’t pity myself for what it’s taught me,” she said. “It’s an incredibly empowering thing” to be able to tap her experience to help others who are in some “very dark places.”
Shortly after she was kidnapped, Ms. Smart said, “I made a decision I would do whatever I had to do to survive.”
Though that decision was tested almost daily as she endured sexual abuse and torture by her captors, she said she held on to the conviction that her parents would love her no matter how badly she was treated. “That would be worth surviving for,” she said.
She told members of the audience the painful episodes they’ve
experienced are no less significant than her well-publicized kidnapping.
“Don’t belittle the pain you felt,” she said quoting words her mother said to her the day after Ms. Smart was returned home following her rescue.
Addressing the audience of about 850 — mostly women — at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh hotel was “inspiring,” said Ms. Smart, because the Women’s Leadership Council’s signature cause is supporting women in crisis.
“To see women lifting women, I’m so encouraged,” she said.
United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council has about 2,000 members who donate $1,000 or more annually. Its 2017-18 campaign raised $9.2 million.
The money primarily benefits United for Women, an initiative that assists women caught in unexpected crisis such as divorce, illness, job loss or homelessness.
It supports programs led by partner agencies including the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, YWCA Greater Pittsburgh and Bethlehem Haven shelter.
For years, the council held its campaign kickoff at an early morning breakfast but switched to a lunch this year to accommodate more women who commute or are responsible for getting their children to school or childcare in the morning, said a United Way spokeswoman.
After the lunch, Ms. Smart signed copies of her latest book, “Where There’s Hope: Healing, Moving Forward and Never Giving Up.”
Proceeds from the book sales will benefit the United for Women initiative.