BRAZOS COUNTY, TX — April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
In 2019, there were nearly 19,000 cases of sexual assault in Texas.
The overwhelming majority of the victims were female.
Jennifer Gerlich, owner of JG Creatives is using her photography and calligraphy skills to call attention to the issue.
She made signs with phrases such as, 'Love shouldn't hurt.' and 'Shatter the silence' written in Calligraphy.
"You can use these as props as you want." Gerlich shared.
People can use them during her open photoshoot to raise money for the Sexual Assault Resource Center.
"I just wanted to use this as a platform to really, really involve the community and get the word out for survivors and SARC," Gerlich said.
Anyone can send home a powerful message through professionally shot Instagram-worthy pictures.
"For people to use these photos to publicly show their support for SARC and stand with as well as encourage survivors," Gerlich said.
The local SARC office has seen a rise in calls since the pandemic. Adding two members to the team to deal with the increase.
"When you have had something like sexual violence occur in your past, and then couple it with covid, it intensifies those reactions and that response to that environment," Lauren Spitzngale, executive director of SARC said.
This photoshoot creates an opportunity for survivors to see messages of support and use the experience for healing.
"Survivors have gone to music, to art, to photography and this just speaks behind a different approach for a nontraditional way of therapy to some extent," Spitzngale said.
There is a 40-dollar minimum donation that will go to SARC to help break the silence.
The photoshoot is from 10 a-m to 3 p-m. tomorrow at Stagecenter Theater in downtown Bryan.
You can pre-register here.
Walk-ins are also welcome.
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