Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania held the first-annual Rise, Resist, Unite, Program in Greene County as part of the 2018 worldwide initiative and program One Billion Rising Revolution Saturday, Feb. 17.

The program was first launched in February 2012 to raise awareness for domestic violence and sexual assault.

Cheryl McCready, Satellite Office Coordinator of the Greene County Women’s Center worked to plan and hold the first annual Rise, Resist, Unite Program in Greene County.

“[The event] was a part of the world event for One Billion Rising and it was a flash mob dance,” said McCready.

McCready said the main event was the dance, and the morning of the event is spent teaching all of the people in attendance how to perform it.

“The dance itself is called Break the Chain.  At [10 a.m.], we began by teaching it to whoever is there,” said McCready.  “We went over it a few times and had some fun.”

According to the One Billion Rising website, as of 2012, it was calculated that one in three women will be abused domestically or sexually in her lifetime.

McCready said this is the primary purpose of the revolution.

“The important part is obviously the awareness of domestic violence, but it does cover sexual assault,” said McCready.  “The One Billion Rising [also] covers inequalities, but our focus is domestic violence.”

In addition to the Greene County office, Washington and Fayette counties recently held their own version of the Rise, Resist, Unite Program as part of the One Billion Rising Revolution.  McCready believes keeping the program local has its benefits.

“Domestic violence is around. It’s in Greene County, but we often hear that these things don’t happen in our community,” said McCready.  “The fact is that it does.  [By] getting everybody on board with awareness makes it easier for victims to talk about what is going on.”

McCready also said victims fear coming forward, but holding the event locally draws people out to share their story and come forward as abuse victims.

“All of our education programs are the same thing, they are to make people feel comfortable,” said McCready.  “We focus on being nonjudgmental and [giving] confidentiality.  We want people to feel comfortable in our offices and ask for help.”

With February being Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, Waynesburg University students have also found ways to be involved with raising hope and understanding for this cause.

McCready said DVSSP had a table at the WU GO Girl event in Stover Tuesday night.

Also, this past week, the Bonner Scholars held their annual dating violence program.

“At that [Bonner program] we had one of our volunteers who had a family member that died as a result of domestic violence in Washington a couple years ago,” said McCready.  “Unless there is an emergency in town the [borough] police are going to come and talk about their experiences with dating/domestic violence.”

The main event that evening was the annual dating violence video contest that judge’s videos scripted and recorded by local high schools.

“Each year the schools film their videos and at the program we announce the winners,” said McCready.  “This year all three of the winners are from Carmichaels Area High School.”

As the month of awareness draws to a close, McCready concluded by sharing something the center and program stands by.

“It is OK to get angry but not OK to hurt anybody,” said McCready.