Candlelight vigil of hope for Sexual Assault survivors will be held April 19

A candlelight vigil will be held on April 19 at 6 p.m. in the Grand Marais Rec Park to honor survivors of sexual assault.

The Violence Prevention Center is hosting the vigil.

This is the 22nd year that nationally April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness month.

Emotional, physical, and financial costs of being sexually assaulted are astronomical.

The National Library of Medicine reports that women who were sexually abused as children on average made 20.3 percent lower wages than women who were not victims of sexual abuse.

As reported by National Sexual Violence Resource in 2018 there was an estimated 25 million rape survivors in the U.S., and the U.S. can expect to spend about three trillion dollars over their lifetimes on health care.

Sexual assault victims have an estimated lifetime income loss of $241,600.

In 2011 it was estimated that rape costs the country $127 billion per year. Adding to those costs are the offender’s imprisonment, probation, treatment, and other offender services.

Groups in Cook County have been working to eradicate sexual assaults. If you are victim, you can reach out to three contacts: The Grand Portage Human Services and Violence Prevention Center are both trained to assist victims of domestic and sexual violence and the Victims Services unit of the Cook County Attorney’s Office will assist victims in cases brought forward for prosecution.

Grand Portage Human Services: (218) 475-2166

Violence Prevention Center: (218) 387-1262 or (218) 387-1237 or hope4u@boreal.org.

Cook County Attorney’s Office Victim Services: (218) 387-3669.

The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) has a video called Rosemary Pledge that offers 10 simple tips on starting to prevent sexual violence and five tips to grow prevention in a person’s community. If you take the Rosemary Pledge MNCASA will send you a Rosemary Project Pin that you can wear to show support for sexual violence prevention.