CAPSA, students unite to promote awareness
What do you call a man who thinks someone he loves will never be raped? Uninformed. This and other similar messages appear in posters that are part of the awareness campaign CAPSA (Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency) conducts year-round, here in Cache Valley.
CAPSA is a non-profit organization that provides shelter and other immediate help to victims of domestic and sexual violence in Cache and Rich counties, according to their Web site, www.capsa.org.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month nationwide.
Nick Marsing, a junior in psychology and sociology, and a rape prevention specialist for CAPSA, said there are special activities every year, during this month, including presentations in high schools and other places in the community, self-defense classes, and the teal ribbon.
He said the purpose is to increase awareness of the occurrence of sexual assault in our communities.
“It’s a silent epidemic,” Marsing said. “It’s something that happens quite often that people don’t talk about.”
Marsing said there are about two rapes per week in Cache Valley, and in 99 percent of the cases the perpetrator is someone the victim knows. The majority of the victims are teenagers and college students.
He also said force is not always the method used by the perpetrator, but rather pressure, coercion or even the use of date-rape drugs.
Marsing said as a presenter he encounters quite a bit of fear and skepticism in members of the community.
“Sometimes parents pull their kids out of a presentation,” Marsing said, because they don’t want to hear “what we might say.”
He said often people shake their heads at the facts, as if to say, “that will never happen to me.”
Mary Ann Call, a junior in psychology and victim advocate for CAPSA, said people believe this cannot happen in a Utah culture.
“In a culture that promotes families so much, people can picture a family sitting down for a family home evening, but they can’t imagine one of those family members being abusive,” Call said.
According to statistics, one in four women will be a victim of rape, and one in seven will suffer a sexual assault, Call said. She said these numbers and the image of a perfect society cannot be true at the same time.
Marsing said a perpetrator will offend eight to 10 times before he gets caught. He said some 5 to 10 percent of men are likely to commit offenses.
CAPSA relies on volunteers from the whole community to increase awareness and provide its services to victims. A large portion of volunteers are Utah State University students.
USU chapters of the Kappa Delta and Chi Omega sororities are involved as well, Marsing said. Kappa Delta does the “penny jar” each year. They collect pennies and spare change from students and then give the proceeds to CAPSA.
He students from a business class held a tri-high-school dance to benefit CAPSA also said not long ago.
“I think people are normally impressed with what CAPSA does,” Call said.
Call is also president of the Kappa Delta sorority, and said there are usually three or four sorority members, in any given year, who are actively involved with CAPSA.
Maisy Bjarnson, a senior in sociology, said she chose CAPSA for her internship because she wanted a place where she could make a difference in people’s lives, “or at least help them get a hold of their lives.”
Bjarnson said volunteers can do anything from working at the women’s shelter, to helping in booths, to speaking to students in high schools.
“It’s service,” Amanda Barrus, a freshman in horticulture, said. “And it’s great to know that there’s an organization people can turn to when they’re in need.”
Michele Misener, a sophomore in elementary education, said, “It needs more publicity, though. It’s a wonderful organization.”
To receive help 24 hours a day or to contribute to CAPSA, a volunteer can be reached 753-2500.