april

for those who don't know, april is child abuse prevention awareness month and sexual assault awareness month. this is a busy time for me since i'm on the board of our local non-profit sart (sexual assault response team) foundation and i'm heavily involved in child abuse issues as a juvenile prosecutor. wednesday i, along with a few other fabulous board members, did a presentation to a local rotary club about sexual assault and the forensic sexual assault exams that our organization provides. giving a presentation to about 60 well-respected local figures was so stressful, but i was prepared and it went off without a hitch and we got some ultra-positive feedback as well. probably the most moving part of the experience was when a young woman approached me afterwards and told me a bit about her experience - tears and all. visit www.taasa.org if you want to learn more.

friday was the child abuse prevention kick-off luncheon hosted by one of our county commissioners. while we had a great time honoring some important local people who are committed to the cause, the sad reality was that the majority of attendees were law enforcement, prosecutors, cps workers, and others who deal with this issue on a daily basis. there really wasn't anyone there from the "outside" - those who aren't involved in the day-to-day prevention but who care enough to honor those who do. i don't know, child abuse just really isn't one of those social issues that many people get insanely passionate about, which boggles my mind. show someone a starving animal, and he or she will get fired up and probably start donating money or doing something (myself included), but talk about the magnitude of children who are starving, have no parental support or supervision, and who are physically beaten on a regular basis and many people seem to think the problem is exaggerated. it really is such a horrific state of things. visit here if you want to learn more.

oh, and i totally wore my new hot pink suit to the rotary club presentation. i looked SO fab!!!