Fort Huachuca, Arizona - Fort Huachuca and the Sierra Vista community joined together in hosting the second Take Back the Night event 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Cochise College Student Union to support prevention of sexual violence through education and encouraging victims to speak out.
According to Lana Tompkins-Stutzman, installation victim advocate with the SHARP program, this is for the community.
"The purpose of Take Back the Night is--most sexual assaults occur at night--typically by someone [the victims] know. So Take Back the Night is an event that says, 'we're going to take the night back, and the night is okay.'"
Members of Fort Huachuca's Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, or SHARP, program attended the event to inform attendees of post's SHARP program. Vendors, including the Army Substance Abuse Program, or ASAP; Army Community Services, or ACS; and the Forgach House Domestic Crisis Shelter set up informational booths in the Student Union court yard.
According to Master Sgt. Maricella Derrick, installation SARC coordinator, "one in six males and one in three females have been sexually assaulted before the age of 18."
"I coordinated this event with Fort Huachuca's SHARP program because of all of the sexual assault cases that have appeared on the news," said Valerie Garmen, program coordinator for the Take Back the Night event.
Garmen added, "I wanted to bring a sense of empowerment and hope to the community so that they would have the resources I didn't have. So they would know they don't have to silent.
"I recommend that [victims] tell anyone. The hardest step is to tell that first person and get a reaction."
Detective Lori Burdick, Sierra Vista Police Department, spoke at the event about the importance of believing any individual who reports a sexual assault. Mayor Rick Mueller, City of Sierra Vista, read a formal proclamation emphasizing the importance of ending sexual assault in the community.
A candle light vigil followed the event.
Social Sharing