For ten years, from 2004 through 2013, Stop the Silence conducted the Race to Stop the Silence (Stop Child Sexual Abuse) in downtown Washington, D.C. Other Races have been conducted in Florida and the Walk to Stop the Silence still occurs in Santa Cruz, CA through Survivors Healing Center of the Family Service Agency of the Central Coast serving Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties, CA.
Over the past eighteen years, many races, walks and other advocacy events have been concentrated in local environments, through our university-focused programming and others (see the Art as Advocacy tab under Our Work page). In past years, Races have been upbeat, fun and educational events in D.C. and other cities, including an 8K Race, 5K fun run and walk, a 1K kids’ fun run (all kids get prizes), awards and random prizes, music, motivational speakers, organizational booths, games for the kids, a raffle with great prizes, and more. Funds raised have gone to local programming for the prevention and treatment of CSA.
Additionally, Stop the Silence is proud to have been a primary catalyst/supporter for the Road to Change – Walk to Stop the Silence, Stop Child Sexual Abuse, a 10,000 mile walk carried out between May 2013 and February 2015. The Road to Change (RTC) was the brain child of and led by Matthew McVarish, Scottish actor, playwright, musician and activist. As a result of the Stop the Silence U.S. tours of his play To Kill A Kelpie and then the film (directed/produced by his brother, Edward M. Smith) as well as his involvement in raising awareness about CSA under Stop the Silence during that time, and our invitation, Matthew became our European Ambassador from 2011-2014, while developing and implementing RTC under the Stop the Silence banner. RTC visited 31 nations across Europe. RTC was able to garner enormous media attention across the continent, expose millions to important information, and affect policy change on the statutes of limitations. Change and lessons learned occurred on many levels, individual, community and policy, and did enormous good.
From 2015 to the present, Stop the Silence has continued Art as Advocacy through a myriad of events, conferences, and symposia, both local and international, including black-tie fundraisers, “Ask a Sex Survivor” performance tours with Michael Broussard, University/campus trainings, online support outreach groups, and a host of other community programs and partnerships.
If you would like to do/host something along the lines of the above – whether walks, races, or other similar events – please contact Pamela Pine at pamelajpine@gmail.com. Thank you!