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Over the last four decades, KCSARC has helped thousands of adults and children who have survived sexual assault and abuse. We provide a 24-hour Resource Line, legal advocacy, therapy, family education and other direct support. These services help alleviate the trauma of sexual assault, and help hold perpetrators accountable.
In the months after #MeToo began trending on social media, there was a 56% increase to KCSARC’s 24-Hour Resource Line. While we never could have predicted that this hashtag would take off in the fall of 2017, we have known for a long time that survivors need more, and better connected, supportive services. And we have been preparing to expand our services across the county.
King County is uniquely complex, with 39 law enforcement jurisdictions, three courthouses, 28 hospitals, and eight Child Protective Services offices.
With the nation’s immigration policies and scenes of family separations in the news, we want to take the opportunity to share with you, our supporters, how recent policies and decisions are affecting some of our clients and other survivors of sexual assault in our service area.
By her own account, Dana Widrig isn’t a social media “influencer.”
“I am not, and never have been, an active FB user, but when I opened my page one day in April, I saw the opportunity to start a KCSARC fundraiser for my birthday, which is April 18,” she said. “I knew that April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and I had an opportunity to finally make my birthday month meaningful and special.”
We were honored when KCSARC’s former client, Andy Sampson, agreed to be our 2015 BE LOUD Breakfast speaker and share his story of hope. We caught up with him and his wife, Brandy, recently, and asked what it was like to speak at the event, and what it meant to Brandy to be in the room.
We’re delighted to bring you their response – a preview of the hopefulness you can expect to take away from the 2018 BE LOUD Breakfast.