We have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable among us.
Editor’s note: The following is the first of four columns submitted by the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Twenty years ago, I joined with a small group of professionals and concerned citizens who recognized that our community needed a more effective response to victims of rape, survivors of child sexual abuse and their families.

While there were some services already in place, no one was speaking out on behalf of victims and survivors to ensure that their needs were understood during medical procedures and legal proceedings and, more importantly, in the community at large. We felt there was a need for an organized approach to providing protection and healing for victims and survivors and for preventing sexual victimization from occurring in the first place.

Our awareness of this need resulted in part from the voices of women and eventually men speaking publicly for the first time about their personal experiences of rape and child sexual abuse. Adding to their descriptions of emotional, spiritual and physical pain, research revealed the immensity of the problem.

One in three women and one in four men will be victimized in a sexual way in his or her lifetime. Added to that number are those indirect victims, the family members, spouses, partners, employers, co-workers, friends and neighbors who care about the victims and share in their pain. To meet their needs through a variety of direct services and to reshape societal understanding and behavior for the purpose of prevention, we formed the Sexual Assault Crisis Center.

Since its inception, SACC has added several layers of service.

First, we offer direct service to victims and survivors by providing trained advocates to help them begin the healing process through a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week call-in line. Second, our advocates assist victims during medical examinations, police investigations and court proceedings. And, third, for those who are ready, we offer support groups. These services are also extended to family members and friends who want help with their own feelings as well as to know how best to provide support.

An additional layer of service is provided indirectly through various networks with legal and medical service providers to ensure that response services protect victims and survivors from further harm.

For me one of the most exciting additions to our list of services addresses prevention through social change. One of the ways we achieve this is through a variety of in-school programs at local high schools.

Adolescents, in particular, need assistance in understanding how to achieve respectful, fulfilling relationships in a culture where sexual exploitation and violence are often exalted. Research indicates that most sexual assaults and rapes are perpetrated by people who know their victims, hence the term “date rape.” Although victims of such crimes can be of any age, young people have the highest incidence.

It is SACC’s goal to prevent these crimes by educating young people about ways to avoid hurtful behavior and achieve respectful relationships.

As I reflect on the past 20 years as a SACC board member, I want to boast about a few of our achievements.

We maintain a group of courageous board members who are willing to give voice to a problem most people find too difficult even to think about let alone discuss publicly. Our board hired an executive director who continues to this day to lead our agency with compassion, courage and integrity. She has become a national leader in her field.

Over 3,500 people have had help healing as a result of our services, not to mention the people in their lives who were indirectly affected by their suffering. Measuring the success of prevention efforts in terms of numbers remains difficult at best, but we know we have reached approximately 15,000 young people at the elementary through college levels over the years. This list, by no means, covers all we’ve accomplished but it does demonstrate the caliber and extent of our influence.

Given all that has been accomplished since our inception, I have great hope for all that will be accomplished in the future.

The Lewiston and Auburn community is in the process of establishing itself as a prosperous, vital and safe place to live. SACC is clearly a contributor to this process. We are people who care about each other. We are people who protect the vulnerable among us. We are people who choose to live responsibly and respectfully.

I am proud of the part SACC has played in creating that reality.

Wanda Sprague is a founding member of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center and a current member of the board of directors. SACC’s statewide emergency hotline number is 1-800-871-7741.