Saturday, March 22, the GFWC IL Morgan Park Junior Women’s Club will be hosting the third annual Work Out to Wipe Out Domestic Violence A.N.D. Benefit Day.
The Morgan Park Junior Women’s Club began this event in 2012 with the purpose of promoting community-wide awareness of the issue of domestic violence, to acknowledge and show unity with victims of domestic violence, and to raise funds for A New Direction (A.N.D.) Beverly Morgan Park.
A.N.D. is a local counseling and advocacy agency that serves the victims of domestic violence. The agency does this by providing not only counseling and advocacy, but also education and support to individuals and families that have been affected by domestic violence.
The first year of this event, 2012, saw one hundred and fifty people participate. Last year, 2013, the second year had over two hundred and fifty people participate. This year they hope to see even more people turn out and work out to fight domestic violence.
Work Out to Wipe Out Domestic Violence has seen a lot of support, which can be seen through the support given by the Beverly/Morgan Park, Mt. Greenwood, and Evergreen Park community. This support stems from the fact that all of these communities are supportive of everything that looks to help improve family life and family values within the community.
As in the previous years, the Shannon Center here at Saint Xavier will be participating in the event. Jean Catania, from the Morgan Park Junior Women’s Club and an A.N.D. benefit committee chair, stated, “We’re grateful that the Shannon Center helped us bring domestic violence awareness to the community in our inaugural year.”
Students can participate in the even at the Shannon Center Saturday morning through a $25 donation. Zumba will be from 8AM-8:45AM. People on Weights will be from 9:15AM-10AM. Cardio Kickbox will be from 10:15AM-11AM.
According to Ms. Catania there is a very vital fitness and wellness ethic in the community. Because domestic violence affects both family life and family wellness the decision to reach out to people through fitness classes seemed simple. She stated that because of this, “It seemed obvious to us that people concerned with health and wellness would naturally be concerned with stemming domestic violence.”
Work Out to Wipe Out Domestic Violence A.N.D. Benefit Day will be present at the Saint Xavier University Health Fair this Friday, March 21. At the health fair they will be distributing brochures, displaying and selling t-shirts (at a discounted price for students), and distribute event schedules for Work Out to Wipe Out Domestic Violence.
For more information concerning this event you can go to the health fair, or the website or Facebook page for A New Direction, which are: http://www.anewdirectionbmp.org and https://www.facebook.com/ANewDirectionBMP.
Work Out to Wipe Out Domestic Violence is a campaign to raise awareness for a topic that many find difficult to discuss. If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence call A New Direction at (773) 253-7226.
Catlyn Hicks
Senior News Editor
About Post Author
