Downtown Chillicothe will once again be the gathering place for Adena Health System’s sexual assault response team and other community members for the 2019 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Walk and Vigil. Together, these groups will look to build on many of the powerful national movements recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and empowering women, children and men who have experienced sexual violence to speak up.

Over the last year, Adena’s Sexual Assault Survivor Program has served more than 240 victims of interpersonal violence in which more than 65 percent had experienced some form of sexual violence.

The Sexual Assault Awareness Month Walk and Vigil will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 20 at the Ross County Courthouse, 2 N. Paint St., Chillicothe.

Attendees will meet outside the courthouse for the reading of the annual proclamation, written by Mayor Luke Feeney and delivered by Stacy M. Brooks, declaring April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the city of Chillicothe. Special messages will also be shared by Adena sexual assault advocates and nurse examiners, and Tara Gillum, owner and operator of Steiner’s Speakeasy and community coordinator of the Angel Shot Program. Musical talent will be provided by local artist Ashley Foster.

The group will then march to Yoctangee Park, where 170 flowers will be released into the pond, each representing a different sexual assault survivor Adena treated in 2018.

Submitted by Jason Gilham, communications manager, Adena Health System.