Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Luncheon helping give support to rape victims

Fundraiser

The Denim Day Luncheon is 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Rio. Call 375-0153 or 493-4814, or visit therapecrisiscenter.org. Tickets are $55 or $500 for a table of 10.

Reporting cases of rape is not a simple matter of telling someone what happened. In fact, the act of telling can be one of the hardest parts.

“They have to tell the story over and over. It’s hard to relive that story,” said Lu Torres, executive director of the Rape Crisis Center of Southern Nevada. “Someone took control over your most precious part of your body and forced you to give up something you normally save for someone special. The trauma is right up there at the top with murder.”

Besides telling the story, there is an aspect of sexual assault that often goes overlooked. If a victim wants to press charges, he or she must stand on a sheet in a hospital room and remove their clothing — every article, in most cases — which is then bagged as evidence to preserve DNA.

The victim asks, “What will I wear home?”

Enter the crisis center, armed with underwear, shirts, sweat shirts, sweat pants and flip-flops. The clothing — all new — is given to victims at the hospital.

“We have had a couple clients after the exam … say, ‘Oh my God, it feels so good to have something clean and warm on,’ ” Torres said.

For the past three years, the crisis center and the Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program Class of 2009 have been working together to raise money for clothing and awareness. The second annual Denim Day Luncheon will be held Friday at the Rio, an event open to the public.

Beginning in 1974 as Community Action Against Rape, the crisis center provides intervention, advocacy, education and support for victims of sexual abuse, whether it’s face to face or over the phone. Torres says the center assists about 35 victims a month.

Essentially, Torres said, the center helps make a plan.

“If it’s domestic violence, we may help them get shelter. If they need a protection order, we’re going to help them get protection,” Torres said.

In January, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie held a news conference touting the reduction in crime in the Las Vegas Valley from 2005 to 2010. One of the exceptions was sexual assaults, which have been steadily rising over the past several years. Last year 1,400 sexual assaults were reported, according to Metro Police.

But it may be even higher, Torres said, because incidents often go unreported.

The Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program is an eight-month course that educates the business community about local issues. Each class sponsors a charity or nonprofit group and organizes a one-time or recurring project, such as the Denim Day fundraiser.

Brenda Shank, class of 2009 and an NV Energy manager, said her class was drawn to the crisis center because it is a cause that needs perpetual help.

“It was an annual event, something we as a class could do every year,” Shank said.

For the past three years the class has worked with the crisis center to buy clothing for sexual assault victims.

“Everybody felt strongly that this was an important organization that we wanted to support,” Shank said. “It’s great that we raise money for rape victims because they need that clothing. Every year (Torres) needs to restock. But it’s also important that we raise awareness.”

In the crisis center’s trailer at the College of Southern Nevada’s Charleston campus, Torres shows the shelves of clothing and drawers of packaged underwear and colorful flip flops.

Denim Day, an appropriate tie-in with the need for clothing donations, has been internationally celebrated since 1999. It started when women of the Italian Parliament protested a high court ruling that overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing tight jeans. Enraged by the verdict, the lawmakers wore jeans to work in protest.

“You hear those kinds of things all the time,” Torres said. “Most people do blame the victim. It’s not the victim’s fault.”

Those interested in attending the Denim Day Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Rio can contact Lu Torres at 375-0153, Brenda Shank at 493-4814 or visit therapecrisiscenter.org.

Tickets are $55 or $500 for a table of 10.

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