(Jackson, Mn.)– The month of April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention Month. Kari Voss-Drost is the Assistant Director of the Southwest Crisis Center which serves Cottonwood and Jackson counties. She says they’ve been involved in a number of activities already this month to help raise awareness. She goes on to explain what it is that inspires her to do that work every day…
“For me, what keeps me going and part of why I even started the work is I have two daughters and, you know, I just want them to grow up in a world where they don’t have to, when I was younger I was very acutely aware of the statistic. At that time is that one in four people would be sexually assaulted by the time they were 18. I would just really love to change that statistic for them.”
Lanee Hall is an adult advocate for the Southwest Crisis Center…
“I like helping people overcome the obstacles that they’re facing, whether that be doing their order for protection, following them all the way through the court cases, or even just listening to their stories and being that listening ear. A lot of our clients don’t have a person that they can fully come and tell everything to, so it’s nice being that person they can fully trust with what they have encountered in life and have a person that believes every single thing that they’re saying.”
Hall says they’ve tied blue and teal colored ribbons to poles around Jackson and other communities the agency serves. She says they will remain through the end of the month to help raise awareness.
You can find more information about the Southwest Crisis Center at mnswcc.org. They also operate a 24 hour crisis line. That number is 507-376-4311. They also have a Facebook page.
