COLUMBIA, Mo. - Men and women gathered Wednesday morning for breakfast and to take a pledge to never commit, tolerate or remain silent about rape and abuse.
The Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (MCADSV) organized the event with sponsors State Farm Insurance and the University of Missouri. The coalition is a statewide nonprofit organization with a goal of uniting people against domestic and sexual violence with the use of education, research and public policy. Their website is mocadsv.org.
"This is the kickoff for a statewide initiative to really get men involved in the movement against domestic and sexual violence," said Zachary Wilson of MCADSV. "For far too long this has been labeled as just a women's issue, when really it is something that affects us all. If we really want to see change in what is going on, then we all have to get involved and we all have to really step forward, stand out and let our voices be heard."
The audience was comprised of state representatives, victim advocates, police officers and other officials from government agencies and departments on the forefront of preventing violence, Wilson said. They all received packets with lapel pins and pledge cards that required the audience to pledge to neither commit nor condone rape and abuse.
"The major piece was people stepping forward and saying the pledge and receiving the lapel pin," Wilson said. "But the Missouri Men Say No More initiative is much more than just a lapel pin and a pledge.
"What it is really about is what everyone does when they leave here today. What they do to help educate and teach themselves about domestic violence and sexual assault, how they influence others to join in the movement and to make sure that their communities are supportive of survivors when they have to step up."
State Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, attended and was awarded the first Missouri Men Say No More Award for his decades of service to stopping rape and abuse, said MCADSV CEO Colleen Coble. The organization will give the awardsannually.
"I am honored by the award," Kelly said. "The much more important thing is to get attention, money, and power dedicated to this issue. ... More women die every year from domestic violence than died in 9/11. Every single year more women die from domestic violence."
Kelly said he would be satisfied if he had a tenth of a percent of the funding for national security to handle domestic violence, which he called a real form of domestic terrorism. He recalled scenes from his time as a judge where he met women who had been held at gunpoint by their partners and were forced to return to their abusers for lack of anywhere else to go.
"We ought to take this seriously," Kelly said. "We have politicians who fan the flames of foolishness over Ebola and four people in the United States of America have died of Ebola. Thousands of women die every year because of domestic and sexual violence."
In 2013, more than 36,600 people received services from programs that provide advocacy to survivors of sexual and domestic violence, according to MCADSV data. However, more than 21,000 were turned away from full shelters and more than 26,700 request for services were unmet because of a lack or resources.
In Central Missouri last year, more than 2,900 people received nonresidential services, and 1,309 requests for the same services were denied to others. Also, more then 280 people were turned away from full shelters in central Missouri in 2013, according to MCADSV data.