Angela Gibbs, director of the Winchester office of the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center, said everyone has been impacted by violence in some way.
Because of the prevalence of violence in our society, the Rape Crisis Center is partnering with Lexington’s
Chrysalis House to bring awareness to the community.
This Wednesday, Winchester will host a Clothesline Project event at College Park for anyone interested.
The national project is designed to help victims of violence of any kind, as well as their families and friends, to express their feelings by decorating T-shirts to be displayed on a clothesline.
“It gives them (victims) a sense that they are bringing awareness to the issue, and it makes them sit down and think what message they want to give to others,” Gibbs said.
According to the event website, the Clothesline Project began in Hyannis, Mass., in October 1990 after a group of women
learned that 51,000 women were killed by domestic violence, or “by men who supposedly loved them,” compared to 58,000 soldiers killed during the Vietnam War.
“The concept was simple — let each woman tell her story in her own unique way,”¿the site says.
The Winchester Clothesline Project will be from 3 to 7 p.m. and T-shirts and art supplies will be provided.
“I think there’s a lot of healing through art,” Gibbs said.
Participants can decorate their T-shirts however they want. Gibbs said she hopes to be able to display the shirts in front of the Clark County Courthouse after the event.
Although the Rape Crisis Center serves victims of sexual violence, Gibbs said the Clothesline Project is meant to raise awareness about all types of violence.
“It’s for anyone who has been affected by violence, which is us all,”¿Gibbs said.
For more information, visit www.clotheslineproject.org.
Contact Rachel Parsons Gilliam at rparsons@winchestersun.com.
