Ross Gallabrese PLANNING EVENT — Jodi Scheetz, executive director of ALIVE Inc. in Steubenville, is helping to prepare for next week's Bloom: Growth After the Storm Survivor Art Show.

WINTERSVILLE — Local organizations will come together next week to raise awareness about sexual violence and honor the strength and resiliency of survivors.

The Bloom: Growth After the Storm Survivor Art Show is a collaboration among ALIVE Inc., the Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center and the Center of Music and Art.

“The show is born out of the fact that it is hard for so many survivors to share their feeling about sexual assault,” explained Teresa Richmond, the sexual assault response team coordinator and prevention educator with the help center. “Art is one of the ways they can communicate.”

All of the activities surrounding the five-day event will happen at the Center of Music and Art, located at 264 Main St.

“Carolyn Glaub at the CMA has been very generous and very helpful in allowing us to utilize the center all of next week,” said Jodi Scheetz, executive director of the Steubenville-based ALIVE, which provides safe alternatives to living in a violent environment.

She said April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and working with the SAHC, which provides services in the Northern Panhandle including Brooke and Hancock counties, makes sense.

“Very often, we will get people from West Virginia who will come to Trinity Medical Center West and then there are times when Ohio residents will go to WVU Medicine-Weirton Medical Center, so we coordinate with them to make sure we’re serving the people as best as we can,” Scheetz said.

“If it’s a case that originated in West Virginia, our advocates will respond to the emergency room, but then the West Virginia advocates will handle the details for them, and they’ll do the same for us too,” Scheetz added.

Monday’s opening night will include presentations by Susan Bratt, the Brooke and Hancock county advocate for the SAHC; Glaub; Mary McCardle, advocate and sexual assault program coordinator for ALIVE; W.Va. state Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke; Richmond; Scheetz; Steubenville Mayor Ralph Petrella; Stephanie Lemasters and Alex Risovich, SAHC board members; and Ashley Carpenter, SAHC executive director. The Rusty Bull food truck will be on location from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Building this year’s activities around art was an easy choice when McCardle and Richmond were looking for a theme — both used to be art teachers, Richmond said.

“We’re doing the art show and a bunch of other little events to bring awareness,” Richmond explained. “Almost everyone knows someone whose life has been touched by sexual assault.”

April 14 will include a paint-and-sip event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Registration is required and can be made by contacting Richmond at (304) 650-3125. A self-defense class will be offered from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on April 15. Richmond can be contacted for information.

April 16 will be a celebration of Denim Day and will feature the opportunity to make a denim craft from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Contact McCardle at (740) 512-6092 for information.

Space is limited for each of the events, organizers said.

Throughout the week, area residents will have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction, Threads of Courage, which will feature specialty items made from denim by local artists. Winners of each item will be announced at 5 p.m. April 17 and proceeds will benefit ALIVE and SAHC.

“The reason we chose denim is because April 29 is International Denim Day,” McCardle said. “That came about after a case in Italy, where there was a young woman who took a taxi and was assaulted. It went to court and the man was convicted, but that was overturned because a court said her jeans were so tight that she would have had to have helped to take them off. After that, all of the women in the Italian Parliament wore jeans to show their support for the woman.”

Scheetz and Richmond said building awareness about the issues surrounding sexual assault is important, especially during April.

“Most people don’t like to think about us until they need us,” Carpenter said. “By doing outreach, we’re saying, ‘Hey, we are here, this is what we do.’ We try to do as many events as possible.”

She added when a person has to go through something like an assault, it’s helpful to have someone there to go through it with them, especially someone who understands their rights and the resources that are available and can help them navigate through all of those issues.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 45.1% of women and 16.9% of men in the United States have experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetimes.

“We want people to know there are services available here in our community as well as the Northern Panhandle,” Scheetz said. “It’s so hard for victims to come forward and report sexual violence and, really, to be honest with you, in most cases, when you are a victim of sexual assault, it’s usually someone you know — it’s an acquaintance, it’s a partner, it’s a friend. Being kidnapped by a stranger is highly unlikely, so sometimes even just knowing your perpetrator makes it hard to come forward.

“And then, we have to believe the victims. We have to start believing them, and the prosecutors do, too,” she added. “There are all sorts of reasons why victims don’t come forward, and we’re just encouraging them to seek services if they need some help.”