April is both National Child Abuse Prevention Month and National Sexual Assault Awareness Month
—a perfect time to help the Julie Valentine Center (JVC) support child abuse and sexual assault survivors while also offering Safe Sanctuary training to as many people in our congregation as possible!!
Here are some facts that may startle you:
- Experts estimate that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys experience attempted or completed abuse by the age of 18.
- Last year the Julie Valentine Center helped approximately 1000 children—75% of them were sexually abused; 25% of them were physically abused or neglected.
- JVC sees a prevalence of child abuse in churches, particularly from ministers and church leaders.
- 93% of sex offenders self-identify as being very religious.
JVC offers free and confidential services to victims of child abuse, incest, neglect, and sexual assault, including child advocacy, a 24-hour crisis hotline for child and adult victims and 24-hour advocate accompaniment to local hospitals and meetings with law enforcement, and both individual and group adult therapy.
In addition, JVC offers programs for caregivers and guardians, educational programs for elementary, middle, high school, and after school students of Greenville County, training for law enforcement, and a 30-hour training program for victim advocates.
During the month of April, Open Hearts would like to collect the following for JVC:
- New T-shirts, lightweight pants, shorts, socks, and women’s underwear in sizes from Small to 3X for those who go to the hospital and have their clothes taken as evidence. Choose loose and comfortable items.
- Individually wrapped snacks (pretzels, goldfish crackers teddy grams, fruit chews, baked chips, candy, cookies, chewy granola bars, Kind bars, trail mix, etc.)
- Juice boxes, and bottles of water
- Hygiene supplies – small bars of soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes
You can place items in the large barrels found at the front entrance to the sanctuary