‘It's horrifically beautiful,' The Clothesline Project, a visual testimony of violence on a community
Hundreds of shirts were hanging in Squires Hall on Tech's campus on Wednesday, March 27th, all representing someone's story of violence.
(Photo Credit: Zoe Mowery/WFXR News)
Southwest & Central Virginia Honor Flight prepares for 10th annual trip to Washington D.C.
The shirts were on display side by side to show the victims standing together. Shirts are color-coded, with each color representing different traumas:
White: for victims who have died of violence.
Yellow or beige: survivors who have been battered or assaulted.
Red, pink, or orange: For those who have been sexually assaulted.
Blue or green: for survivors of incest or child sexual abuse.
Purple or lavender: for those attacked because of their sexual orientation.
Black: for those disabled because of violence.
'I think it is horrifically beautiful. Every shirt is a work of art. Every shirt tells the story of a survivor or a victim of gender based or sexual violence, and it's an awareness that people need to have about what happens in our community,' said Susan Anderson, the facilitator for the Clothesline Project on Virginia Tech's campus.
(Photo Credit: Zoe Mowery/WFXR News)
The display has been put up annually at Virginia Tech since the 1990s. The stories shown on the shirts represent the entire New River Valley, women, men, students, faculty, and community members.
YMCA of Pulaski County announces funds to expand memberships, services
'It really raises awareness that violence happens in our community. We are no less safe or more safe than any other college community,' said Anderson, 'We want to raise that awareness that people can't have these prejudices like, 'violence only happens to poor people,' or 'people who live in that neighborhood' or 'this ethnic group' or 'those religious people.' Violence cuts across all socioeconomic lines, all kinds of lines, and it is something that we need to understand so that we can work as a community to try to lessen it.'
(Photo Credit: Zoe Mowery/WFXR News)
For the rest of this week, those who wish to create a shirt are able to from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the women's center on Washington Street. This is open to everyone in the community.
Another time to see some of the shirts collected over the decades is at the Annual Take Back the Night on April 10th at 7 p.m., an annual rally on campus against all forms of sexual violence.
For more information about domestic violence, you can visit the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Social justice advocate Sister Pat left legacy of defiant compassion: ‘She lived for others'
Sister Patricia Murphy took risks for love. That's how the Rev. Larry Dowling described her Thursday morning to hundreds of people who gathered at a church in Mercy Circle Senior Living Center in Mount Greenwood to honor her life and commitment to social justice and immigration advocacy. The 96-year-old nun — known as Sister Pat — was diminutive but bold. She was rarely seen without her closest collaborator, Sister JoAnn Persch, with whom she was inseparable in action and purpose. They worked in sync until the day Sister Pat died, July 21, in her home in south suburban Alsip, surrounded by loved ones. Together, the activist nuns were arrested four times at different demonstrations over the years. They pushed to pass state legislation allowing religious workers to visit people in detention processing centers in Illinois. Their impact was recognized at the highest levels, from being entered into the Congressional Record for Women's History Month in 2018 to receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award — a prestigious honor recognizing dedication to community leadership and issues like immigration —from Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich in 2023. 'We've done the stuff that other people didn't feel OK with, and that's fine, because not everybody's called to the same thing,' Sister Pat told the Tribune in January. Thursday's tributes to Sister Pat also served as a call to action. Yogi Wess, who did social work in Chicago with her at Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly for nearly 50 years, said that if Sister Pat had been in the building that day, she would have likely told people in the audience to stand up for 'the forgotten, the unnoticed, the undocumented and unseen.' 'She was a modern-day saint. She lived for others,' said Wess, 68, who noted that Sister Pat went to great lengths to help her plan her wedding, for which she remains grateful to this day. Sister Pat was born in Chicago, one of five children, to Frank J. and Thelma Murphy. She graduated from high school in 1947 and joined the Sisters of Mercy. She admitted that she'd always wanted to be a nurse, but became a teacher instead. She met Sister JoAnn at an elementary school in Wisconsin. Then, in 1960, the Sisters of Mercy community put out a call for a volunteer to go on a mission in Sicuani, Peru. 'I filled out the form, ran across campus, and put it into the mail slot,' she recounted to the Tribune in January. She lived there for eight years, in what she called a 'house for the houseless' with no running water. In remembering her life there, she focused on the beautiful aspects — the lady who owned the house, named Isabel, who would cook soups and traditional Peruvian dishes, and how the smell would drift through the rafters. Pat picked up Spanish and the local dialect of the region. Photos of her from that time were pinned onto a poster board at Mercy Circle. She is smiling and wearing a habit. James Connelly, 67, said his great-aunt went and visited her while she was in South America and brought him back a llama fur vest. 'Now, I can't really fit in it,' he joked. Connelly admitted that he was a little afraid of the traditional nun garb as a kid, but said he always admired her compassion and dedication. 'She set an example as a strong, female leader,' he said. 'And she passed that on to all the children she taught.' Indeed, when she returned from her time abroad, she reunited with Sister JoAnn and the two trailblazers took advantage of a burgeoning movement in American Catholicism, where many nuns moved from traditional roles to activism. Sister Pat did stints at Mercy Hospital, Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly and Austin Career Education Center, helping teen dropouts and adults prepare for the GED. But in her later life, shaped by her experiences in Peru, Sister Pat prioritized helping immigrants. She and Sister JoAnn in the 1980s and '90s opened Su Casa Catholic Worker House, a home for survivors of torture from Central America, on the South Side of Chicago. Several years later, they started praying outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview. And they collaborated with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to successfully pass a bill allowing religious workers to enter immigrant detention centers. They spent long hours with immigrants in detention. Pat warmed up the guards with homemade cookies and wrapped candy canes. Because she could speak Spanish, she was able to help detainees connect with family members. 'They just loved her,' Sister JoAnn said in January. 'Imagine how much of a help she was to them, speaking Spanish like she did.' The sisters stopped visiting immigrants in detention during the pandemic. And under the current Donald Trump administration, ICE has been unwilling to let anyone — even elected officials — inside, said Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at ICIRR, who attended the funeral. 'Sister Pat always used a particular word to describe the immigration detention system: demonic,' said Tsao. The sisters meant to retire after the pandemic, they said, but felt called to step in and help the tens of thousands of migrants who were bused to Chicago from the southern border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. They founded a nonprofit called Catherine's Caring Cause to help asylum-seekers settle, opening 17 apartments to house 100 people. They shifted to provide 'Know Your Rights' information to their tenants when Trump was elected. In a final essay that Sister Pat co-authored with Sister JoAnn, they wrote about one Venezuelan family assisted by their nonprofit, who they said was recently deported to Costa Rica. 'The parents and their five children were seized at a local ICE office when they reported for a routine check-in as required by law,' the essay reads. 'ICE officials accused the husband of having a criminal background, which he denied. He never had a chance to present his case in court.' On Thursday morning, a migrant family lingered a little longer in the hallway outside the church sanctuary after her casket was brought out. They said they were blessed to be connected to Sister Pat through a nonprofit in El Paso, Texas. Their family of four was staying in one of the apartments the sisters rented. 'Pat was our angel,' said Jose Ramos, 37, whose daughter is disabled and needs extra support. 'She called us all the time to check in.' His wife, Victoria Naranjo, 34, said Sister Pat often encouraged her to write a book about her migrant journey. 'It's not easy being a migrant,' Naranjo said. 'She thought more people should know that.' Ramos said he thinks he might have been one of the last to speak to her before she could no longer use her voice.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
WFXR partnering with Feeding Southwest Virginia, Goodwill Industries of the Valleys for ‘Hunger to Hope' food drive
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Food insecurity impacts people all across southwest Virginia and in Roanoke. The WFXR crew is teaming up with Feeding Southwest Virginia and Goodwill Industries of the Valleys to combat hunger in the community with the 'Hunger to Hope' food drive on Friday. 'It's real and it's here,' said David Dantzler with Feeding Southwest Virginia. 'It's probably on your street. Food drives like this bring both awareness, and they bring food. Obviously, the food nourishes our neighbors, and from there, they can lead healthier, happier lives.' According to Feeding America, food insecurity impacts nearly 15 percent of all people and 20 percent of children across southwest Virginia. That number rises to one-in-four children across Roanoke City, and the summer is a time when access to food can be the toughest it is all year. 'Food insecurity goes up in the summer,' said Dantzler. 'School's out, kids are home, they're not getting their meals at school, so we see our numbers increase and our numbers are already high.' Feeding Southwest celebrates partnership with key speakers There are eight drop off locations for donations all across the Roanoke Valley. List of drop-off locations: Market on Melrose – 2502 Melrose Ave NW A, Roanoke, VA 24017 Vinton Store – 907 Hardy Road, Vinton, VA Hunting Hills Store – 4335 Pheasant Ridge Road, Roanoke, VA Hollins Store – 6315 Archcrest Drive, Roanoke, VA Cave Spring Store – 3206 Electric Road, Roanoke, VA Salem Store – 1493 E. Main Street, Salem, VA West Salem Store – 1830 West Main Street, Salem, VA Daleville Store – 125 Commons Parkway, Daleville, VA From 9 a.m. until 7 p.m., the WFXR team will be at Market on Melrose, which ended a decades-long food desert in Northwest Roanoke when it opened on Melrose Avenue last fall. 'We want to eliminate poverty and part of that is meeting people's needs and no one should be hungry,' said Chelsea Moran with Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. 'That's really where this partnership will thrive.' Feeding Southwest Virginia is accepting monetary donations and any non-perishable food items, with a focus on high-protein foods. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Blue Ridge Point in Time Report shows slight decrease in people experiencing homelessness
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – It's a problem most cities deal with: homelessness. The Roanoke Valley is no exception. To put the problem into perspective, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires regional groups, like the Blue Ridge Continuum of Care to perform a Point in Time count twice a year. According to the Point in Time count, for the first time since 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Roanoke Valley is decreasing. The count shows the number of people experiencing homelessness during January 2025 was 389. That's down from the Winter 2024 count, which was 409. 'The overall decrease was about 3% or 3.2% over 2024, over our winter count last year. A modest decrease and I think maybe a stabilization post-pandemic. 24 and 23 we really saw significant spikes with eviction protections expiring after the pandemic ended,' said Roanoke Human Services Administrator, Matt Crookshank. Crookshank is the Human Services Administrator for the City of Roanoke and works with the Blue Ridge Continuum of Care. New report shows homelessness in Roanoke Valley is up 20% from 2023 The Point in Time count also looks at trends among people experiencing homelessness, like the number of people considered unsheltered, or sleeping outside. 'Unsheltered numbers went down a little bit, about 8%. But we did have a cold weather shelter at a church in the southeast that stood up this year. So if we included those people, who are typically outside, we would have seen an increase in those unsheltered numbers,' said Crookshank. Belmont Presbyterian opened their doors this Winter at first as a warming shelter during the day, but quickly saw the need to stay open overnight. 'Well, we really started it up as a day thing,' said Pastor Todd Atkins. 'Then, I got a call from the hospital, Roanoke Memorial. They said, 'We've got a guy here, he doesn't have anywhere to go, and we heard y'all are a warming center,' said Atkins. 'I thought, 'Oh my gosh', maybe this is what we are supposed to do. So we did it. The one guy came. It was for one guy from the hospital. And then I got in my truck and drove around to see if there was anyone else on the streets. This is when it was like 20 degrees out. I found like four or five people. Then we opened it [the warming shelter] up and next thing we knew we had 50 to 60 people in here,' said Atkins. With the cold weather shelter at Belmont Presbyterian only being temporary, the 31 people who were spending the night there the night of the Point in Time count, are most likely back out on the street. '[We are] still seeing lots of folks outside, lots of chronically homeless folks with really severe underlying issues,' said Crookshank. 'Seems to be a greater count of people who are not only struggling with some of the things we always think about, like affordable housing, income, mental illness and addiction,' said Rescue Mission CEO, Lee Clark. 'But more people who are elderly experiencing being homeless for the first time that have those mobility challenges, physical health challenges, mental health challenges that come with us as we age.' Roanoke leaders weigh in on possible Supreme Court case impacts on homeless community The combination of these challenges led the Rescue Mission to create their Fralin Free Clinic Medical Street Outreach program. They've also partnered with RAM House to offer transportation to and from the two shelters. These changes are addressing immediate needs for the homeless population. The Rescue Mission is also working towards long-term solutions by building affordable housing units. The latest numbers show Roanoke is experiencing an over 3,000 unit deficit. 'We had land that was vacant, about four acres that sits right off of Elm Avenue, that sits adjacent here to the Rescue Mission. We thought, what will be good that is going to be positive for Southeast, good for the neighborhood, good for the people we serve,' said Clark. 'We partnered with a group for Homes for America. They have more than 30 years experience providing affordable housing. We are applying for low income housing tax credits. We are hopeful the application will get approved this month and we will get to start with the first building in 2026. All together there will be three buildings on the site, about 150 affordable housing units,' said Clark. Slowly, but surely, officials believe progress continues with the help of countless groups, like The Rescue Mission, RAM House, The Least of These Ministries and the recently approved Mayor's Hope and Home Task Force all working towards the same goal. 'It's encouraging but we know we still have lots of work to do,' said Crookshank. This year's second Point in Time count is scheduled to take place in July. Find the complete Winter 2025 report, here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
