WESTERN MAINE — April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, and Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services has scheduled activities to honor survivors of sexual assault and to educate their community.

Androscoggin County

Sexual Assault Response Services is known in Androscoggin County as SACC.  

Events scheduled in Androscoggin County include:

* Awareness activities at LA College in collaboration with the Campus  
Safety Project.  Activities include the Campus Clothesline project on display the entire month, and a Take Back the Night event from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 24. In addition, there will be a showing of the film “Sex and Money” in Room 170 at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, and a presentation on cyberbullying in Room 170 at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 19.

* On Thursday, April 26, SACC will have an informational table at Club Texas in Auburn.

* On Saturday, April 28, SACC will have an informational table at the presentation of “The Vagina Monologues” at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Pleasant Street in Auburn.
For information about these events, contact the SACC office at 784-5272.

Oxford County

In Oxford County (and the towns of Bridgton and Harrison in Cumberland  
County), Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services is known as REACH.  

REACH hosted the Clothesline Project at the Bridgton office of Tri County Mental Health Services on April 4.  “The Vagina Monologues” will be presented at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in South Paris on Friday, April 13, and at the Denmark Arts Center in Denmark on Saturday, April 14.  Tickets and information are available through the REACH office, 743-9777.

On Wednesday, April 25, REACH will host a Denim Day Awareness in several locations throughout Oxford County.  Denim Day is held as a result of a decision in an Italian court where the judge ruled that a sexual assault could not have happened because the alleged victim was wearing tight jeans and she must therefore have helped the alleged assailant remove the jeans, thus implying consent.  The Denim Day event will feature replicas of jeans with quotes by sexual assault survivors in protest of victim blaming attitudes and misinformation.

Franklin County

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services is known as SAVES in Franklin County.  SAVES will “paint the town teal” throughout the month.  Teal is the color associated with the anti-sexual assault movement, and local businesses will display teal lights to honor sexual assault survivors and bring awareness to this issue. 

SAVES will also host “The Vagina Monologues” at the University of Maine, Farmington on Saturday, April 7, and will host performances of You the Man at five high schools and UMF.  In addition, SAVES will host a bystander intervention training at UMF, and will provide SASSY training (Sexual Assault Survivor Support and You) training for faculty at UMF. 

On Thursday, April 12, SAVES will participate in the Franklin County March for a Violence Free Community.  For information about these events, call SAVES at 778-9522.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services provides services to anyone affected by rape, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, stalking and sexual harassment, whether that happened today or many years ago.  Services include a 24-hour response line, accompaniment to the hospital or police station following an assault, support groups, drop-in advocacy programs, Sexual Assault Response teams in each county and prevention education programs in schools and the community throughout the  tri-county area.  Services are available to people of all genders, all ages.   

Anyone wishing to connect with services can call the 24-hour response line at 1-888-871-7741 (voice) or 1-888-458-5599 (TTY).