Education Event Tonight!

Our class is a co-sponsor (and the PR team) for tonight's domestic violence education event on campus. Join us at 8pm in Daniel 100 to learn about Safe Harbor's mission and how to help yourself or a friend in an unhealthy relationship.

Professional Meets Personal

It is hard for a class that is handling such a difficult issue like domestic violence to not get personal. It's even harder when a incidence of violence occurs in our community. I posted about this on my personal blog, as well as some of my feelings about this class, if you'd like to take a look. Thank you, students, for taking on such an important issue.

A Break Well Deserved

It's Fall Break for Clemson, so the students are all taking a few days off to relax and recoup. I wanted to take this moment to thank them for their hard work and dedication to this class. Homecoming was a great success; Chick-Fil-A, while not as big of an event as we had hoped, brought in money and attendance that pleased Safe Harbor; and the plans for a campus education event on Oct. 25 are coming together wonderfully. It has been so exciting to watch the class come up with their own projects and execute them with professionalism and passion. Thanks for a great first half of the semester, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what we all will accomplish next.

Eat at Chick-fil-A!

Clemson-area folks: please eat at the Clemson Chick-fil-A tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 5, between 5 and 9pm. Tell the cashier you are there to support Safe Harbor, and a percentage of the proceeds will go to Safe Harbor. The more people who attend, the higher the percentage of sales go to Safe Harbor, so please come eat with us!

The class has done a great job getting the word out about this event. Their Facebook event went to about 1200 people, and I've seen plenty of Tweets and emails going around. We hope this is a successful start to Safe Harbor's month of raising awareness and funds during October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Media Release for Homecoming

The Homecoming group, who will be promoting healthy relationships and awareness for domestic violence during Clemson's Homecoming activities, is starting to get the word out. We worked together to write a media release, and several groups on campus and in the community are pledging to help us spread the word. You can read the release here, at Safe Harbor's blog. We are so excited to get the whole Clemson family involved in raising awareness.

Also, it's now officially Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October). Let's all help bring attention to this important but often-ignored and misunderstood issue. Check out this website for more information and helpful resources.

Group Projects

Last week, the class broke into groups to accomplish a variety of projects. They are:
1. Campus promotions centered around Clemson Homecoming festivities (Oct. 8)
2. An on-campus education event (likely a guest speaker, co-hosted with other organizations)
3. A fundraising event linked with a restaurant in Easley (bringing more awareness to Pickens County during October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month)
4. Assisting with the rebranding and social media/outreach plans for R.E.P. (the new name for Megan's Project, Safe Harbor's education program for high school students)

The entire class will also be working together to promote a fundraising event at Clemson's Chick-fil-Al on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Please visit Chick-fil-A between 5 and 9pm, tell them you're there to support Safe Harbor, and 10% of the proceeds will go to Safe Harbor. If more than 100 people attend, then proceeds increase to 20% of sales. The class will be spreading this message throughout Clemson this week.

A Terrible Top 10 List

SC was just ranked the 7th-worst state for instances of men killing women. This story from the Charleston newspaper links the murders to domestic violence. Sadly, though, many of the readers' comments on the story are insensitive and, well, horrible. This is a lessen on why it's occasionally appropriate to close comments.