The White County Child Safety Center (WCCSC) will be hosting a “Celebration of Survival” in the Benson Auditorium on Sept. 16. The event will feature author and anti-child abuse activist Elizabeth Smart as the guest speaker.
Smart was abducted at 14. She was sexually and physically abused multiple times daily for nine months before being rescued by authorities. In December 2013, 10 years later, Smart released a book entitled “My Story,” in which she shares the details of her survival.
Robin Connell, executive director of the WCCSC, said Smart has a tremendous story of faith.
“I’m hoping we all come away from this event with hope that these horrible things are survivable,” Connell said. “Our subject matter is tough. It’s not a subject people like to think about. But children survive these crimes, and we want to celebrate that fact.”
The WCCSC was founded in 2008 and helps more than 250 children a year.
“I want to reach out to those survivors and those victims (of child abuse),” Smart said in an interview with CNN on Oct. 8, 2013. “I want them to know that these things do happen, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be defined by it … You can move forward and you can be happy.”
Connell hopes to raise awareness for the situation on the homefront.
“Everyone needs to recognize the seriousness of what’s happening in our own community,” Connell said. “We want the people to support our work so we can help these kids.”
Elizabeth Wilson, department chair of family and consumer sciences, wanted to help provide an opportunity for Smart to speak to the Harding students and faculty.
“We all have a vested interest in our children and our future,” Wilson said. “That interest is founded in how children are treated today. We need to be educated so we can become advocates to prevent the abuse and abduction of children.”
The “Celebration of Survival” will take place Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10. Tickets can be purchased at the CAB office or online at www.childsafetycenter.org. Connell said she hopes the event will become a tradition.
“Our mission (at the WCCSC) is to empower children, to tell their stories of abuse and help restore their hope,” Connell said. “Restoring these children is much more important than putting people in jail. We want to give them a voice so they can tell their own stories, and then we want to help them heal.”
