Safe Harbor Visit and Project Ideas

Visiting Safe Harbor was a very interesting experience for me. There were things I expected and things that I did not expect at all. My first reaction to the location of the shelter was one of surprise. I guess I was assuming-given the top secret nature of the shelter's whereabouts-that it would not be located in downtown Greenville. In fact, I was anticipating the shelter to be out in the country and not off of a main road. However, when I thought about it later, maybe there is a method to choosing that location. From what I gathered from my fellow classmates, they were predicting the same thing as I was initially. I was also expecting to see much more graphic evidence of domestic violence on the victims staying in the house. While I'm sure they are going through alot of personal issues that I cannot even begin to imagine, the atmosphere of the house was not nearly as depressing as I thought it might be. Instead, it was a very warm, welcoming place and I believe most visitors feel at home there.
Julie Meredith seems like a very sweet, compassionate person who thoroughly cares about the victims of domestic violence that stay at Safe Harbor. I think she will be a fun client to work with. The main thing that I took away from our Q&A session was that she wants to make progressive moves towards raising awareness about domestic violence in the upstate. Since education equals awareness, it seems crucial that there should be some kind of educational materials created that could reach out to various groups of people. Julie also stressed the importance of reaching out to the college-age crowd. She also made it obvious that she wants us to reach out and be the key educators about domestic violence for our peers.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The outline of events that Safe Harbor has created featured a pretty impressive lineup. I really like the idea of various restaurants featuring nights dedicated to awareness, and donating a portion of their proceeds to the cause. To reach out to a more college-age crowd, I think it would be cool if restaurants or bars specific to Clemson could participate. For example, The Esso Club (or another local Clemson restaurant) could sponsor a night in which all patrons wearing purple (the color for domestic violence awareness) could receive a discount on their purchase. Additionally, bars downtown could feature limited time specials on a purple drink that they created or also offer specials to those wearing purple. Of course there would also be promotional items set up in the facility for patrons to see. Most people are unaware that purple is the color for domestic violence awareness, so offering an event like this could raise a large amont of awareness amongst participants. We could use these promotional events in restaurants/bars to fund the next idea....

Last year, Clemson Football coaches promoted a "purple out" for one of our home games, and everyone was encouraged to deck themselves in purple to raise school spirit. Last week, many of us suggested that we discuss this idea with the coaches again, and take time during the halftime show to make an announcement about Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The announcer could even provide information regarding donations or volunteer opportunities with Safe Harbor. Additionally, we could work with Tiger Town Graphics (or another company like it) to have t-shirts promoting the "purple out" game and awareness about domestic violence to sell to students and faculty, with the proceeds going towards Safe Harbor. I think this might be a good idea, considering how much college kids love t-shirts. For this project to be most effective, I believe we should shoot for a home game in October, which gives us the option of the Boston College game on October 8 (could be problematic because this is also homecoming), or the UNC game on October 22 (could be ideal because it gives us more time to plan and we still be able to hit the month of October).

For both of these events, we could divide into small groups to accomlish tasks leading up to the events in question. This might cut down on the amount of time needed to carry out our plans. Ideally, we could promote events both on and off campus. High-traffic areas such as Library Bridge, Hendrix, the Union, etc. could potentially be good locations to set up a tent featuring educational infomration about domestic violence.

These are just rough-draft ideas, but I think with the right amount of planning and promotion, our class could definitely pull it off. We seem to have a great deal of enthusiasm, and with the guidance and support of Julie and the rest of the staff at Safe Harbor, we can help spread awareness about domestic violence  to the Clemson area.