Both the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault are important to me, which is why it is so meaningful to me to serve on the Board for R.I.S.E. Advocacy. R.I.S.E. is an acronym for Recovery, Independence, Safety, and Empowerment. All of those concepts are an important part of our vision and mission at R.I.S.E. Empowerment in particular is important to me - in my vocation as a professor, in my volunteer work at HopeWell Ranch, in my approach to parenting, and in my role as a small group leader in my faith community I desire to Empower people. Part of feeling empowered is being able to raise your voice. Raise it to bring awareness, raise it to bring healing, raise it to not feel alone. 

April is sexual assault awareness month. The statistics on the number of children and adults who may be sexually assaulted in their lifetime is astonishing, particularly for women. I know so many women who have been sexually abused and assaulted, some multiple times. And many of them were not heard, or not believed. A person that always comes to mind is my residence hall neighbor at Washington State University in 1989. She went to a frat party, not to party but to find two pledges to her sorority. She was concerned that they may be drinking and may be vulnerable. She was tricked into a room by one of her "brothers", where he brutally attacked and raped her. The next day, when I saw her, she was visibly traumatized emotionally and physically. She had so much evidence on her side, but because of the way she was treated by peers and university officials, she decided not to cooperate in the investigation. One person on the student judicial panel told her that perhaps she just didn't expect the sex to be as "rough" as it was - that she had misunderstood somehow that having her head bashed into a wall was just a part of sex? 

R.I.S.E. has a four year university, a private 4 year college, a 2 year community college, and a campus for a private college in its service area. Because of what I witnessed in college, I particularly want to make sure that the young women who live here and go to school here have a safe place to live and learn and begin their adult lives. And if they are assaulted, that they have advocates to support them through all the steps of their healing. Unlike where I lived in the 1980s, we have a local Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. We have worked with public safety officers to better respond to claims of assault. We have trained counselors, and legal advocates. Please support our mission to keep these resources available to victims of sexual assault. 

Please give!