Centre County Spotlights Fight Against Sexual Violence, Child Abuse with Day of Action

April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention Month, and during Tuesday’s Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting, representatives from Centre Safe distributed seed packets to the audience.

“The theme for Centre County (Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention Month) is cultivating a community of care … if you want to take those (seed packets) with you and plant them in honor of someone you might know (who) has experienced sexual assault or child abuse or violence against someone in their family … because what we want to do is really let people in our community know that we care and there are agencies out there that are willing and available to help support them,” said Dawn McKee, special events coordinator for Centre Safe.

The commissioners then formally proclaimed April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Centre County.

McKee said three years ago, representatives from Centre Safe, The Youth Service Bureau, Centre County Children and Youth Services, the YMCA of Centre County and The Children’s Advocacy Center at Mount Nittany Health got together to work on raising awareness for the issues of sexual assault and child abuse.

“Then COVID hit and we got creative and we decided that we were not going to stop,” said McKee.

“We call ourselves the ‘Better Together Collaboration.’”

Later that day, the groups gathered outside the courthouse to talk about the services they offer for the community during a Day of Action event, which shared a message of care and support for survivors of sexual violence and child abuse. This is one of many county-wide events and engagements during the month to bring light to the issues. More information is available at www.centresafe.org/get-involved/saam/.

The Centre County Courthouse will also be lit up in teal during the month in recognition of the month of awareness.

“This kind of work takes a community to do; Centre Safe cannot do this alone,” said Centre Safe Executive Director Anne Ard.

Centre Safe, formerly the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, has worked for 40 years to empower survivors of sexual and domestic violence and to work toward the elimination of such violence.

Last year the organization served nearly 500 survivors of sexual assault, including 100 children, 350 women, 92 men and seven who identified as transgender individuals, said Ard.

“That really enforces to me the reality that sexual violence cuts across all gender identities, all ages, all races, all social economic statuses, and I think the folks in Centre County understand that,” said Ard.

Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said that it was important for the community to know that they can come forward to seek help from these groups.

“It takes great courage to come forward, so the most important thing is that you take that courageous step and seek help from someone you trust, and these folks you can trust,” said Cantorna.

This story appears in the April 7-13 edition of The Centre County Gazette.