April 12 'Take Back the Night' event for IVSHA
Although much progress has been made during the years to combat domestic violence and sexual assault, those problems are still quite prevalent in Illinois Valley.
As such, Illinois Valley Safe House Alliance (IVSHA) is sponsoring a “Take Back the Night” event Thursday, April 12.
Participants in “Take Back the Night” plan to meet at 6 p.m. in front of the county building in Cave Junction and march to Taylor’s Country Store, where there will be live music and an open mic.
According to Grace Auzenne, a sexual assault and domestic violence advocate at the IVSHA, there is still a need for public awareness of these issues.
“One year alone, we helped over 1,100 women and children,” Auzenne said. “That’s amazing for such a small community.”
Auzenne said that of the 1.3 million women in Oregon, approximately 230,000 older than 18 have been victims of forcible rape, which is “higher than the national average.”
There were also 11,767 instances of child abuse reported in Oregon during 2003, she said, meaning that children are also at high risk of potential violence.
“There’s a lot of that happening here,” Auzenne said. “We’re trying to get our community to be involved and have a heads-up on it.”
“Take Back the Night” events take place worldwide to coincide with April being International Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Auzenne said she hopes to attract wide participation to this year’s event.
“Last year we had probably about 40 people,” Auzenne said. “This year, I’m wanting 10 times that many.”
She said that “response has been phenomenal” for bringing a safe house to Illinois Valley. She said that those efforts have been “coming along fantastic,” and will go a long way toward helping domestic violence victims.
“The more educated people get and are aware, the more we can fight it,” Auzenne said. “We’re still working on it, though. It’s still very underreported.”
For more information, phone IVSHA at 592-2515.
