At the 7th annual Choose Respect event in Kenai today, attendees took a sunny march through town to illuminate issues like domestic violence and sexual assault.
After the walk, LeeShore Center Board member Jeannie Young told attendees her own story of how domestic violence impacted her life when her best friend, Sarah Parks, was allegedly murdered by her husband in 2009(That case is still ongoing).
Young: “Honestly it’s something that I have kept in my heart so tight that it has taken little baby steps like joining the board and starting there telling my story to finally be able to be willing and open to share it with everyone else. So I finally just kind of realized that the only way people were going to know is if I step up.”
As one of the last people who saw Parks alive in Idaho, Young says she struggles with what she might have done to prevent her pregnant friend’s death, or what signs of abuse she missed.
Executive Director Cheri Smith with the LeeShore Center says ripple effects like the one demonstrated in Young’s story are just one way that domestic violence and sexual assault impacts everyone, even those not in abusive relationships.
Smith: “When we say one in three women, it’s your neighbor, it’s your sister, one in so many men, men are abused too. One in six girls and one in eight boys are sexually assaulted before the age of 16, that sends a powerful message. Those children are going to grow up and have relationships. Now if that trauma is not dealt with or they don’t get the support, it’s just perpetuating more trauma, whether children grow up to be abusers or just grow up to think that that type of relationship is normal.”
Smith added that in the six years since the Choose Respect program was created, community awareness has helped decrease domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska but there is still lots of work to be done.
Those interested in doing more to help victims of domestic violence or sexual assault in their communities can visit the Green Dot Alaska website or contact their local shelters to ask.