Avalon of Greater Williamsburg celebrates 30 years

Avalon: A Center for Women and Children, is celebrating 30 years of serving Greater Williamsburg Area survivors of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, and poverty-driven homelessness. Avalon has provided shelter, counseling and supportive services to more than 11,000 survivors in the Greater Williamsburg Area since 1979.

Avalon invites the Greater Williamsburg area to celebrate this milestone together a way to thank the community for their continued generosity in supporting Avalon’s mission throughout the years. Their celebrations include a two day festival April 16 & 17, 2010— and Her Campus W&M definitely recommends you check out the cool events.

Friday, April 16th, at 6 p.m., the doors will open to William & Mary Hall for the First Annual Branch Out! Concert. The concert begins at 7 p.m. featuring several William & Mary performers. The Dave Matthews Tribute Band is headlining the concert. Tickets are ten dollars at the door.

Saturday, April 17th, the party continues at 8 a.m., with a 5K run, Run the D.O.G. This will be an historic event as it will be the first race to ever run its course on Duke of Gloucester Street.

Saturday at noon, Avalon will be hosting what I consider the most interesting and exciting event of the festival, Walk a Mile in her Shoes: An International Men's March to End Rape, Sexual Assault, and Gender Violence. One hundred men will walk a mile in HIGH HEEL SHOES through Downtown Williamsburg to express support for the women in their lives as well as the critical services Avalon provides sexual assault survivors.

In gearing up for this event, Her Campus asked Avalon intern and William and Mary student Stephanie Delenick for the details of Avalon’s celebration.

What is your involvement with Avalon? How and why did you begin to work with them?

Stephanie: This semester I’m interning with Avalon. My main job is helping Tori Blizard organize “Branch Out!” The event is to celebrate Avalon’s 30 year anniversary! This is so fantastic because many non-profits are not able to stay in operation for anywhere close to this long. “Branch Out!” is so important this year because of the economy: the increased financial stress that Americans are facing has lead to increased demand for Avalon’s services, and the budget cuts have made it difficult to meet all of the need. The money raised with this event will go towards helping everyone who needs it: from free counseling to food, shelter, and life skills training.

I ended up with my internship at Avalon because of Professor Galano’s Community Psychology Practicum. I think that Avalon’s role in the community is so important that I wanted to use my internship opportunity to help out their organization. I am also really interested in working at a non-profit after I graduate, so I thought that Avalon would be a great place to start to get to know how non-profits work.

Why should W&M students get involved with the events?

Stephanie: First, W&M students should get involved with Branch Out! because it’s going to be FUN! Also, it’s a great way to give back to the people of Williamsburg. I think that living in the “W&M bubble” makes it easy to be unaware of the entire Williamsburg community. Poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, and sexual assault do exist/ happen here, and Avalon does a wonderful job of supporting people in need.

The walk a mile in her shoes seems pretty crazy! Why do you think this a good way to raise awareness?

Stephanie: I think Walk a Mile in Her Shoes is a good way to raise awareness because it makes a STATEMENT. I mean, I can’t wait to see over a hundred men running down the streets in stilettos! I think it is also a gender-role (and physically strenuous!) challenge. Having a whole lot of men running around in something so traditionally associated with women shakes things up a bit. It also gives men a public way to say “NO!” to gender violence, sexual assault, and domestic abuse. How often do you get the chance to make such an important statement so explicitly?

HC urges you to join Avalon in celebrating “the stories of success and a future where love doesn’t hurt.” For more information, call Avalon at 757-258-5022.

See you there.

Sources:
http://www.merchantssquare.org/branchout.html
http://www.walkamileinhershoes.org/