Regions

by - March 5, 2015 10:51 pm

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes – Break the Silence; End the Violence

The Van Buren School District in partnership with the Donald W. Reynolds Fort Smith Crisis Intervention Center is hosting its 4th annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes- Break the Silence; End the Violence event this year on Friday, April 24th from 12-2 pm at the VBHS Frehsman Academy.  This event was started 4 years ago when one of our own, Angela Allen, was sexually assaulted and murdered by sex offender Lloyd Jones.  April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month so we are taking this specific month to educate and bring awareness to the crimes of sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence.  The students, staff, and administration here in Van Buren want our community and surrounding River Valley to know that we take these crimes very seriously, and we ARE NOT GOING TO TOLERATE THEM ANYMORE.  We are taking a stand against these crimes, and we will continue to educate our students on behaviors to watch out for in relationships, on how to report these crimes if they occur, how to take precautions with technology, and paying honor and tribute to our survivors and the fallen to the crimes of sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence.  This event is a multi faceted event.  It is one that our students and staff prepare for for weeks in advance by decorating shoes, posters, making commercials, raising money, and even sometimes writing notes to the families of the ones who did not survive these crimes.  This is a very heavy hearted subject, and we know that the likelihood of our students and staff who have either witnessed these crimes or have been a victim to them are great by statistics alone.  Therefore; we do our best to make this a fun day while making sure our students and our community know the importance of the statements we are making. 
There are 3 areas of this event.  We have the VBPD Detectives set up to do the on-line safety presentation, and it is one the students talk about for years later.  We have the vendor area where businesses and non-profits set up and the kids go around this area to each site to mingle with the vendors.  The vendors may have information, drinks, candy, pencils, bracelets, tattoos, snacks, etc to pass out to the kids here too.  The kids have sacks provided by the Crisis Center.  The actual 'Walk' area has 3 different sections in it as well.  As you walk around the track, you have the Silent Witnesses standing along the track which are life size purple cut outs with biographies of victims of sexual assault or domestic violence.  Our students have a designated victim they learn about in their advisory groups & they lay white carnations at the feet of their particular victim.  The 'In their Shoes' project are River Valley survivors of these crimes with a sign that has a first name, how old they were when crime was committed, and a pair of shoes they would wear at that time.   The 'Clothesline Project' are t shirts of the clients at the Crisis Intervention Center who have gone through therapy and have described what their feelings were at the time these crimes were committed against them on a t shirt.