During the month of April the Coronado High School Feminist Club is hosting a loungewear drive. The Feminist Club decided to host this drive to bring attention to Sexual Assault Awareness month, also known as SAAM, while giving back to the San Diego community.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month runs throughout April, and its main goal is to increase awareness about the causes and risk factors for sexual assault. Honoring this cause also helps empower individuals to make efforts to help prevent sexual assault. The importance of SAAM lies in advocation. Moreover, the more people know about SAAM, the more people will understand the importance of prevention and education on how to help victims. As more people gain insight about this horrible topic, it gives survivors more support than before, judicially and in counseling.
Donations that the Feminist Club collects will be given to a local group, Amali Ventures. This organization is a short-term residential and therapeutic group for girls ages 11 to 17. Amali Ventures helps these girls by providing culturally relevant help for trauma. Additionally, the program offers education and career help internally and externally. Staff help provide holistic health and wellness treatments in homes that create a nurturing environment for the girls. Currently, there are around a dozen girls in their facilities.
Amali Ventures is a truly impactful organization. Each faculty member holds a focus on “positivity, wellness, enjoyment, training, and technology,” according to their website. Finally, the organization has five initiatives for their programs: thrive, rise, equality, justice, and philanthropy/charity/volunteerism. All of these initiatives provide helpful life lessons for the girls to remember as they are in and out of the program.
The Feminist Club wanted to hold a drive for this organization so their impact can be felt on a deeper level. “With the CHS Feminist Club, we do our best to ensure that we do more than talk theory. We can bring our philosophies into action by involving ourselves in the community. Feminism, to us, is not about a self-proclaimed label, but about positive demonstrated action in uplifting not just women but our community as a whole,” says Hannah Cohen, club treasurer. Impacting the San Diego community is on the top of the club’s list. The Feminist Club is determined to do their part in making a positive impact on women and the community.
Feminist Club also partnered with the Activism Book Club to spread awareness around the high school too. Club officers hung flyers around campus to get educate students and have a forum for discussion. The flyers are teal, which is the official color for sexual violence prevention, and have QR codes that students can scan. When scanned, the first QR code sends a link to an article on the history of SAAM. The second QR code is for a google form discussion with this months question: “Why is awareness on this issue so important?” When asked about the impact of the Feminist club, Ashley Ingrande, club president, says, “The CHS Feminist Club has a goal to advocate, donate, and spread awareness to society’s current challenges.”
In the spirit of spring cleaning and giving back, consider donating to the Amali Ventures drive. The bin resides in the CHS front office and will be there till April 28th. Any loungewear items in good condition are acceptable. The organization is very grateful for any donations.
