Center for Sexual Assault Survivors to hold annual Walk a Mile in her Shoes march on April 14

The Center for Sexual Assault Survivors is holding its annual Walk a Mile in her Shoes march to protest rape Saturday, April 14 at Town Square Fountain, corner of Kilgore and McMenamin streets, Hampton.

Registration begins at 10 a.m. and the walk will begin at 11 a.m.

Male community members will walk for one mile in women's high heels, with women and children at their side, through the Peninsula Town Center in Hampton to protest rape, sexual assault and gender violence.

“One in three women has experienced gender violence in her lifetime,” Frank Baird, founder of the march, said in the press release. “That means someone you know, someone you care about has been the victim of sexual violence. This violence does not just affect women. Men are hurt and angered when women they care about are raped. Men are hurt and angered when they try to develop relationships with women in an atmosphere of fear, mistrust and blame. And the same violence that targets women also targets men because rape isn’t about sex, it’s about power, control and violence.”

The organization asks participants to obtain a minimum of $20 in sponsorships. Proceeds from the sponsorships will benefit the Center for Sexual Assault Survivors’ violence prevention efforts and rape crisis services. Anyone can register to walk and men are encouraged, but not required, to walk in women’s shoes.

The Center for Sexual Assault Survivors is a nonprofit rape crisis center serving the Virginia Peninsula that provides free individual counseling, support groups, a 24-hour crisis hotline, and hospital and legal accompaniment to men, women and children who have experienced sexual violence.

For more information about the Walk, visit www.visitthecenter.org. To register or donate online ahead of time, visit www.firstgiving.com/36004

Filed under: COMMUNITY