The month of April is designated in the State of Wisconsin as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

For those who have been impacted by the brutality of these senseless acts, the pain and suffering never truly vanishes.

Historically the victimization of these crimes did not end with the act itself but unfortunately was further perpetrated by a culture of secrecy and transferred blame onto those who were attacked rather than the attacker. For many years, these crimes were minimized or even justified based on the condition of the victim or even in some cases the very clothing that they were wearing at the time of the attack.

Fortunately, those days are over and we as a society have come to recognize the severity of sexual assault for what it is.

We have strived to provide the greatest possible support for the victims while working toward the most severe level of accountability for the perpetrators. We have opened channels of communication to those who have had to live in the shadows of victimization, allowing their voices to finally be heard.

One of the organizations that has been instrumental in this transformation is our own Kewaunee County Violence Intervention Project. Having personally worked alongside these amazing advocates for change, I can attest to both their courage and their dedication in the area of victim support and community awareness.

During this time of social distancing, the Violence Intervention Project is doing a social media campaign through its Facebook and Instagram platforms for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in April. They are asking that you participate, because it is so simple.

All you have to do is think of one thing you #cando (or already do) to help support survivors, change the culture of sexual violence, and help stop all forms of sexual violence in our community.

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Message the VIP Facebook or Instagram page with a quote about one the thing you #cando, along with a selfie, and VIP will plug it into a template and share it on Facebook during this month. You can then share that post with your own friends and family members so they can virtually participate, too. Please forward this to anyone else in your office or department who may be interested, or you can take an already existing group photo and send a quote about your whole department.

There is more information and a list of examples of things you #cando on the website; visit www.vipadvocates.net/events/2020-04/.

In addition, be on the lookout at your local grocery stores for VIP’s SAAM booth. At the booth, you will have the opportunity to enter your name in a basket raffle. To enter, you just need to take a teal ribbon that can be tied to your shoelaces, backpack, purse, vehicle, hair, etc., and/or write an encouraging message to sexual violence victims and survivors which will be displayed alongside the booth.

The booth will be open from 3 to 6 p.m. April 9 at Denny’s SuperValu, 510 5th St., Algoma;

3 to 6 p.m. April 16 at Stodola’s IGA, 602 Center Drive, Luxemburg;

and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 17 at Piggly Wiggly, 931 Marquette Drive, Kewaunee.

Please take the time to join in supporting those affected by these senseless acts and bringing a greater awareness to our need as a society to rid our communities of any and all sexual assaults.

Matt Joski is Kewaunee County Sheriff.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Support Kewaunee County sexual assault victims in April with #cando social media posts