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By Margaret Mikkelsen, on December 19th, 2011
This past summer, the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance launched the Building Healthy Futures Fund—a statewide fund to support prevention programs across the state (including SARA!).
The first initiative is a “Peace Begins at Home” license plate that is now available for pre-order! The cost of the plate is $25 for a non-personalized plate and $35 for a personalized plate. $15 of each license plate sold will go towards prevention program funding.
SARA is currently taking applications for these license plates! This is a great way to publicly show your support for Virginia’s sexual and domestic violence agencies as well as spread a very important message! In order receive a share in the fund , SARA must sell 25 pre-paid plates.
To order a license plate:
1. Go to: http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/pdf/vsa10.pdf to download your license plate application. (Note: When filling out the Application, please check the box for Special Interest and write “Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance” for organization name.)
2. Write a check made out to “Action Alliance” for $25 (non-personalized) or $35 for a personalized license plate.
3. Mail check and completed application to: SARA, P.O. Box 1565, Charlottesville, VA 22903
4. All pre-purchased license plates will be ready by Spring 2013. If your contact information changes during
this time period, please contact the Action Alliance (804) 377-0335.
For more information about this exciting initiative please call Margaret Mikkelsen at 434-295-7273, ex. 20.
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on December 15th, 2011
Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Report Sexual Assault – NYTimes.com.
Above is a link to a story summarizing the findings from the new National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. If you explore the state-level data on the CDC website, you can find the following about men and women in Virginia:
Lifetime Prevalence of Rape by Any Perpetrator—Women: 11.4%
Lifetime Prevalence of Sexual Violence Other Than Rape by Any Perpetrator—Women: 42%
Lifetime Prevalence of Sexual Violence Other Than Rape1 by Any Perpetrator—Men: 20.9%
1 Estimates of rape among men are not included due to small numbers [in the survey].
Lifetime Prevalence of Rape, Physical Violence, and/or Stalking by an Intimate Partner—Women: 31.3%
Lifetime Prevalence of Rape, Physical Violence, and/or Stalking1 by an Intimate Partner—Men:22.1%
Lifetime Prevalence of Stalking Victimization by Any Perpetrator—Women:11.3%
As the CDC says, “These estimates reflect the proportion of people in a given state population with a history of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization.”
SARA serves men, women, and children who have experienced any kind of sexual violence—child sexual abuse, assault, rape, harassment, stalking, statutory rape, incest, etc. If you are one of the hundreds of people in central Virginia who have experienced sexual assault or abuse, please know that there are people who care and services available.You can call our hotline anytime, or our office at 434-295-7273 Mon-Fri to make an appointment or learn more about our services.
Interested in seeing these numbers change over time? Please donate to support our prevention programs in local schools. Every gift counts!
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on December 14th, 2011
Join us for the second annual SARA Three-for-All, the world’s largest three-legged race!
This fun, family-friendly event will encourage personal and community responsibility for ending sexual violence. Participants of all ages will pair up to step out together against assault, abuse, stalking, and harassment.
If 500 pairs participate, we will break the world record for the most pairs in a three-legged race!
When: 10am-12pm, April 14, 2012
Where: Downtown Mall, Charlottesville
How to register: visit 3forall.saracville.org to sign up, and create your own pledge page!
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on December 14th, 2011
Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped.
The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault – NYTimes.com.
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on December 3rd, 2011
 Lean On Me, from the 2011 Art Sale The Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA) is soliciting submissions from local artists to be displayed and sold at a reception March 16, 2012 from 6-8pm at Random Row Books in Charlottesville.
Works by local artists on the theme of “Safe Spaces” will be sold to benefit SARA’s programs.
ARTWORK CRITERIA
Types of artwork that may be submitted include:
• Paintings
• Photography
• Sculpture, pottery
• Textiles
• Videos/Multimedia
• Mixed media
Unfortunately, because of space limitations SARA cannot accept large installations.
Artwork submitted must be related to the theme of “Safe Spaces”. The theme reflects the focus of the 2012 Three-for-All event, street harassment.
SARA requests that artists commit 50% of the sale of each work to the agency. Art work that is not sold by the end of the exhibit may be held by SARA for future sale or may be returned to the artist, according to the artist’s wishes.
Because we want this sale to be accessible as possible to everyone, pieces must have a maximum price of $300.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
Artwork should be submitted by February 15, 2012. Submissions may be emailed to community@saracville.org or mailed to PO Box 1565 Charlottesville, VA 22902, and must include the following:
• A photograph of the work being submitted and its dimensions
• The price of the work
• Name, phone number, email, mailing address of the artist
• A brief artist’s statement to be listed in the catalogue
EVENT INFORMATION
Further details about the date and venue will be posted here as they are announced.
By Sarah Lewis, on December 3rd, 2011
At Penn State, one small act would have saved a decade of abuse.
I am asking you to share the message of one small act.
One small act could be:
-Educating our children on the correct medical terms for their bodies—we know this decreases their vulnerability to sexual abuse.
-Teaching our families to tell each other if someone is making them uncomfortable so we teach our children to trust their instincts.
-Talk about sexual abuse and sexual assault issues with our friends and family, other parents and teachers because secrecy only protects the perpetrators.
-Confronting another adult about their behavior if we observe ourselves or someone else uncomfortable with it. It could prevent or stop sexual abuse or sexual assault from occurring.
-Confronting adults’ comments that are judgmental and victim-blaming.
-Teaching our kids about strangers AND the people they know.
-Teaching our kids to tell—for too long we have taught them to say NO which ultimately puts all the responsibility on the child victim to stop their own abuse.
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on November 22nd, 2011
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on November 17th, 2011
 Annette Grimm and Pat Cheeks A sold-out crowd packed a Darden dining room today to pay tribute to an extraordinary volunteer, Pat Cheeks. A long-time volunteer and board member for the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, Cheeks was honored with the annual Annette DeGregoria Grimm Award. The award is for extraordinary contributions to the elimination of sexual violence. Ms. Grimm, former executive director of SARA, presented the award. In her remarks, Grimm said that during her tenure “There was almost nothing the agency of SARA did without consulting Pat Cheeks. I don’t think Pat ever knew the integral role she played in the organization. I am so delighted that she is finally going to be acknowledged for all she has done for SARA and for the community. ”
Pat Cheeks started volunteering with the Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA) in 1981, when it was still known as the Charlottesville Rape Crisis Gr
oup (CRCG). Then a student, she remained involved with SARA for over twenty years, along the way becoming a board certified, Psychiatric/Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist.
About helping SARA in its formative years , Cheeks said “I was 21 and I was a hotline volunteer. I became determined that it was it was going to be something that was going to be solid.” As a volunteer and SARA board member, Pat responded to hotline calls, assisted victims in the emergency room and through the court process, offered support for women referred by local Ob/Gyns and family practitioners, and started SARA’s first sexual assault support group. Pat served as president of the SARA Board, supervised SARA staff, and provided the training program for new volunteers. Pat also provided education and training for local police and sheriff’s departments, instructing them on appropriate ways to respond to victims of sexual violence, and providing them with an understanding of the psychological and emotional issues survivors face. As CRCG evolved into SARA, and as SARA expanded, she was a critical resource for staff, volunteers, and Board members, helping to guide the direction of SARA’s programs.
Cheeks urged the audience to take action. “We still have a lot of work to do. Clearly there are still issues still happening, both on campus, nationwide, and around the world. There people like that in our community, whether we want to admit it or not. There are children who continue to be assaulted. It is not a topic that is not any easier to talk about. Hopefully people can hear it and want to do something about it. I also want you to think about things you might be able to do, even if it’s just to tell someone you came to this breakfast or let someone tell you their story.”
Married and mother of two adult children, Pat is currently living in the Shenandoah Valley running her own life transitions practice called “Natural Transitions.”
The theme of the celebration was “Building a community free from sexual violence”. The event featured a film made by local photographer John Robinson with the help of nearly twenty community members who agreed to talk about how they are helping to create a community free from sexual assault and abuse. The organization hopes people will use the film as a conversation starter in their own families and organizations.
 A lighthearted feature of the event was a building contest. Each table had a supply of children’s building blocks to use to create a structure working collaboratively. Joking about the quality of the resulting projects, SARA Clinical Director Sarah Lewis said “I am glad that everyone is this room is dedicated to the health and safety of this community, and not the architecture.” Still, the winning structure was chosen because it was distributed evenly across the table, much as responsibility for ending sexual violence is spread across the community.
 The winning table and their structure
By Sarah Lewis, on November 11th, 2011
For too long we (adults) have focused our safety messages for children on making the child the responsible party in their own abuse. It is so awkward to talk to children about the fact that there are adults and sometimes even older children who may touch them inappropriately and intentionally in the areas of their body that we grown-ups tend to refer to as PRIVATE.
For example we still teach stranger danger, despite the fact that evidence shows us most child victims know their perpetrator.
We still teach kids to say “No”, despite the fact that just saying “No” won’t deter the perpetrator from his or her intent. When that is the extent of our efforts, we adults have just accidentally made children responsible for stopping their own abuse. When they cannot, they often feel guilty or as if they did something wrong.
As adults we certainly do not want to falsely accuse a person of such a heinous act as childhood sexual abuse. So we deny that creepy feeling we get, or second guess ourselves…
But what if we are right about our creepy feeling, or that inappropriate touch we witnessed was not an accident…?
All children deserve to stay safe. We adults need to be responsible for their safety. Here are just a few little things we can do to keep children safe:
- Teach our kids the appropriate medical terms for their “privates”. Do not punish or hush them for using those terms correctly. We know that the better informed a child, the less vulnerable he or she is to a perpetrator. With a healthy knowledge of their bodies, children are better able to tell adults if something does occur.
- Teach our kids to tell, tell, tell and keep telling any and all adults until a responsible one helps them…and to never be afraid to tell a grown-up if something makes them uncomfortable. Tell your child to trust “their gut” or inside feelings. Most kids report that even if they didn’t really know that what was happening was sexual abuse, they knew it made them uncomfortable.
- Respond appropriately when a child tells you about something that has happened. Don’t panic; don’t interrogate. Reassure the child that you care about his or her safety, and call Child Protective Services or SARA for help.
- Don’t worry about making another adult feel uncomfortable. Weigh the risk of possibly creating an awkward moment with someone versus ending a child’s abuse or preventing it all together.
We need to try some new tactics to keep our children safe…what we have been doing has not been working. Penn State football is not unique; it is just in today’s news cycle.
By Margaret Mikkelsen, on November 8th, 2011
An opportunity to focus on sexuality education | Daily Progress.
The other thing that medically-accurate sexuality education can do is reduce children’s vulnerability to sexual coercion. Many of our young clients have not been taught the proper names for their genitals. That makes it harder for them to tell their parents what is being done to them if they are sexually abused. Child sexual abusers target children who know little about their own bodies, personal boundaries, or sexuality. Parents and educators can make children less vulnerable targets by teaching and using proper names for genitals. These aren’t “potty” words; they are the names of parts of our bodies, just like “elbow” or “knee.” Believe me, every child is aware that she or he has a vulva or penis. As adults, we can teach children to respect their bodies, and to expect their bodies to be respected by others. Please, never punish or hush a child for using the correct words for their own body parts.
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Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Report Sexual Assault – NYTimes.com
Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Report Sexual Assault – NYTimes.com.
Above is a link to a story summarizing the findings from the new National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. If you explore the state-level data on the CDC website, you can find the following about men and women in Virginia:
Lifetime Prevalence of Rape by Any Perpetrator—Women: 11.4%
Lifetime Prevalence of Sexual Violence Other Than Rape by Any Perpetrator—Women: 42%
Lifetime Prevalence of Sexual Violence Other Than Rape1 by Any Perpetrator—Men: 20.9%
1 Estimates of rape among men are not included due to small numbers [in the survey].
Lifetime Prevalence of Rape, Physical Violence, and/or Stalking by an Intimate Partner—Women: 31.3%
Lifetime Prevalence of Rape, Physical Violence, and/or Stalking1 by an Intimate Partner—Men:22.1%
Lifetime Prevalence of Stalking Victimization by Any Perpetrator—Women:11.3%
As the CDC says, “These estimates reflect the proportion of people in a given state population with a history of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization.”
SARA serves men, women, and children who have experienced any kind of sexual violence—child sexual abuse, assault, rape, harassment, stalking, statutory rape, incest, etc. If you are one of the hundreds of people in central Virginia who have experienced sexual assault or abuse, please know that there are people who care and services available.You can call our hotline anytime, or our office at 434-295-7273 Mon-Fri to make an appointment or learn more about our services.
Interested in seeing these numbers change over time? Please donate to support our prevention programs in local schools. Every gift counts!