Event raises awareness for violence against women, draws over $15,000

“I am man enough to walk a mile in her shoes,” and, “Violence against women affects us all,” read picket signs Saturday, April 19, as community members and collegians gathered to raise awareness for gender violence on the Keene State College campus.

According to Senior Virginia Mariolo, “Two-hundred-seventy-eight people signed up and we raised $15,583, though we had a goal of $25,000. Hopefully, we keep getting donations so we can reach our goal.”

Contributed Photos / Shaundi Kane:
Event co-chairs Jake Sharkey and Skylar Beddie sport red heels to show that they are, “man enough to walk a mile in her shoes,” as many posters said.

The event was sponsored by the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention and a grant from the Campus Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness.

Executive Director of MCVP Robin Christopherson stated, “This event started on the West Coast; when it began it wasn’t even a fundraiser but became one naturally by giving men a forum to speak out against violence.” Christopherson continued, “This is not a problem fixed by individual intervention but rather public, communal and societal change.” Lastly, she said, “All funds go to direct services for survivors of abuse and prevention programs.”

Forrest Seymour, co-advisor of Mentors in Violence Prevention Peer Edication Program at KSC, said, “This is the eighth year in a row we have done this walk. MCVP provides support for KSC students who have been victims of sexual assault. They support us, so we support them back.”

Seymour continued, “We raise somewhere from fifteen-thousand to twenty-thousand dollars each year, so we’re aiming for around there, hopefully more.”

The MVP advisor stated, “We invite the men to wear women’s shoes to build empathy.”

Junior Hersch Rothmel, a third-year Walk A Mile participant,  supplemented this by saying, “Walk A Mile forces us to experience empathy, instead of thinking sympathetically, it makes us take a step back and think, ‘well how does that person [a victim] feel?’”

Contributed Photo / Shaundi Kane:
TKE member Erik Radermacher sits on the stage at the student center lawn during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event and plays a toy drum.

Massachusetts resident Dante Chiacchia, said, “This is an important cause to support because it is a serious problem.” Michelle Chiacchia, Dante’s mother, added, “This is a cause that needs increased awareness. There is a high prevalence of sexual violence, especially on college campuses, and there is inadequate support and empathy for the victims on their path to recovery.”

“It is really important that we raise awareness because this is a quiet crime, something that people just sort of push under the rug and it shouldn’t be,” sophomore Alex Littlefield said.

A Tau Kappa Epsilon brother continued, “I think they should have done this later in the day, or not on Easter weekend, because college students are a high risk group and it would have been better if more could attend.”

Rindge, N.H. resident Keith Griffin said, “I am here with my wife, sons, their wives and my daughters because abuse against women should never happen.”

Griffin added, “It is a misconception that this type of violence will not occur, you never know how things will pan out.”

Check-in took place between 9 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. At 10 a.m., the welcome and pre-march rally took place in front of the Lloyd P. Young Student Center. Prizes were awarded prior to the walk for best shoes, most team members, highest fundraising team and highest fundraising individual.

Zach Fournier can be contacted at zfournier@keene-equinox.com