(ROCKWALL, TX – Feb. 16, 2016) The Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Rockwall Class of 2016 introduced its community service project benefitting the future Advocacy Center in Rockwall during its fundraiser luncheon held at The Center on Thursday, Feb. 11.
Leadership Rockwall 2016 class member Jerry Welch presented the many in attendance with details on the project, which will bring a backyard refuge for both adult and child victims of physical and sexual abuse to relax, play, talk and start to heal.
To protect the privacy of the victims and make them feel safe, a security fence will wind its way all around the property of the Advocacy Center, located at the facility which housed the Rockwall Soroptmists at 1350 E. Washington St. A pergola with a fire pit at its center and outdoor furniture underneath will provide adults with a place to relax, talk, and have one-on-one therapy. A brand new playground will also be installed as a fun, therapeutic way for the children to forget their fears and traumatic experiences.
Those in attendance at the luncheon also had the opportunity to purchase a customized brick to be installed on a brick pathway as part of the backyard refuge and to honor their contribution to the project.
The Chamber welcomed Rockwall County Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper, who is fronting the effort to establish a child advocacy center (CAC) in Rockwall, Women In Need (WIN) Executive Director Connie Pettitt and Shelter Outreach Director Cheryl Bahm, who each spoke on the functions of the Advocacy Center, how it will benefit victims of physical and sexual abuse in Rockwall County, and how the Leadership Rockwall project will further enhance the services that WIN and the Child Advocacy Center provide.
The Advocacy Center in Rockwall will house two separate organizations – WIN and the CAC – which will each offer a variety of services and counseling to victims of physical and sexual abuse. Currently, Rockwall County contracts with the Collin County Child Advocacy Center to provide services and counseling for abuse victims residing in Rockwall County.
“We realized very quickly that we wanted to be able to provide these services as close to home as possible, because that child that had sustained that sexual trauma, we didn’t want them to be re-traumatized by having them travel long distances to receive that medical service,” Culpepper said.
Pettitt explained that the Leadership Rockwall project would benefit the CAC and WIN by allowing them to expand their services and better provide for women and child victims of abuse.
“With this refuge project that we’ve all been working on, we have a tremendous opportunity to expand our services both inside and outside the Advocacy Center,” Pettit said. “We’ll be able to serve more victims, provide more counseling, and do it in a holistic way.”
WIN has been providing services including group and individual counseling to victims of domestic violence (men, women and children) through legal advocacy since 2005, and also offers assistance in finding affordable legal options for its clients. The non-profit organization has been operating out of the Advocacy Center facility on E. Washington St. since August of last year, and also provides a prevention and education program within schools located throughout Rockwall County.
Bahm said the prevention and education program involved classroom activities with teenagers in a five-day curriculum, where they teach things like how to define an abusive relationship, how to know if you’re in an abusive relationship, and how to end an abusive relationship. WIN also provides an assembly program where theatre students perform a play addressing the red flags of domestic violence and what a bystander can do if they witness abuse in a relationship.
“I’m very passionate about our prevention and education program because I think it is going to make a huge difference,” Bahm said. “I truly believe, like Benjamin Franklin said, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ We cannot do this without each individual in this room, Kenda Culpepper, the Advocacy Center and our local law enforcement.”
Sponsorships for the Leadership Rockwall 2016 project include the following:
Platinum Sponsor
$1,500 (privacy fence)
Metal plaque with sponsor’s name on the fence
Recognition in all promotional material and social media advertising
Gold Sponsor
$750 (pergola and counseling / conversation furniture)
Brick acknowledgment with sponsor’s name
Recognition in all promotional material and social media advertising
Silver Sponsor
$500 (landscaping and irrigation)
Recognized at Advocacy Center on sponsors plaque
Recognition in all promotional material and social media advertising
Brick Acknowledgment Donation – $500
12×12 bricks with 10 lines of text (20 letters and spaces per line)
Brick Acknowledgment Donation – $200
4×8 bricks with three lines of text (16 letters per line)
The project has already gained tremendous support within the community, with Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial agreeing to match the first $2,500 of donated funds to the project, and according to Culpepper, each and every dollar raised for the project will directly impact an abused child’s life.
“These victims, when they are assaulted, they feel unloved, unsafe and alone,” Culpepper said. “I can tell you that when these victims walk into this refuge and see the beautiful thing that you’ve created for them, they’re going to feel loved. With that privacy fence they’re going to feel safe. And they’re going to know that Rockwall County is wrapping its collective arms around them and saying, ‘We got you, we got you.’ That’s an incredibly powerful and dramatic statement that you will be making.”
About Leadership Rockwall
Leadership Rockwall develops the potential of emerging leaders throughout the county by introducing them to the realities, opportunities and challenges of local civic and business communities. The class must complete a community service project benefitting a non-profit, city, town or district of Rockwall County within nine months.
Leadership Rockwall Class of 2016:
Brian Benitez, Vice & Henley PLLC
Robin Chouteau, Honda Cars of Rockwall
Matthew Foster, AT&T
Valerie Egan, Lawson & Co CPAs LLC
Daniel Garcia, City of Rockwall Police Dept
Judy A. Garza, City of Fate
Clint Gilbert, Northstar Bank of Texas
Bryan Holloway, Lonestar Transfer
Sarah Kelley Turner, Turner, Stone & Co LLP
Scotty Lovett, Frost Bank
Jennifer Maxwell, Alliance Bank
Ryan Miller, City of Rockwall
Stephanie Moore, American National Bank
Dannielle Rankin, Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce
Matthew H Redman, Rockwall ISD
Kay Talley, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Rockwall
Blake Walker, ANB Wealth Management Group
Greg Welch, Rockwall County Sheriff’s Office
Jerry Welch, Ebby Halliday/The Welch Group
For more information about the Leadership Rockwall-Advocacy Center project, visit leadershiprockwall2016.com.
Story and photos by Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News staff writer.
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