In Memoriam
On February 18, 2024, A Safe Place and the Nantucket community lost a prominent leader with the passing of Linda Hoey. Most recently, she was the President of the Board of Directors of A Safe Place. She served from 2019 to 2023 in that capacity, having been on the Board for eleven years prior. Linda was a strong, wise and big-hearted soul. She will be sorely missed by all of those whose lives she touched.
April Hernandez Castillo Speaks at Nantucket High School
A Safe Place recently presented actor, speaker, and author April Hernandez Castillo at Nantucket High School as part of our youth prevention and community outreach during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
Our goal was simple: to create connection and allow the tough but necessary peer to peer conversations to begin.
Domestic violence is very real, and it is important to understand what is and isn’t healthy when it comes to relationships. Relationships are not just isolated to intimate partners. Relationships are also immediate and extended family structures and everyday friendships. Each of these play a role in the creation of the healthy, or unhealthy, environment that surrounds each and every one of us daily.
One key point we wanted students to walk away with when looking at what is and isn’t healthy within connections, is that someone does not need to hit you for it to be abuse.
Abuse is based off of the control of another person. It can come in many forms, inclusive of mental, emotional and verbal abuse, spiritual abuse, financial abuse, and coercive control tactics. This is why it is important to have the conversations, especially as teenagers.
Students in grades 9-12 were reminded that their voices matter. Their stories matter. That they as individuals matter.
They were also reminded that they hold the power to create the change of both today and tomorrow – for themselves and for their community. Healthy relationships start with each and every one of us.
April did an excellent job connecting to students while humanizing her story in order to create change. Students were able to ask questions at the end of the event and join a meet and greet with April on stage. That evening, April held a separate parent\teacher workshop in the auditorium educating on ways to better understand dating violence and help our teens.
A Safe Place truly believes that small ripples have the power to create large waves. Having the opportunity to bring April Hernandez Castillo to Nantucket High School during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month allowed for an afternoon of impact with not only students, but also teachers, staff and parents. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success!
A special thank you to Nantucket Golf Club Foundation for helping to make this possible for our community.
On March 30th A Safe Place, SourceHub, and the Nantucket Family Resource Center are collaborating to host a community resource fair, March Madness, utilizing the March Madness theme. On and off island organizations will be on hand to provide free resources and services to the community. The event will be held at the Nantucket Intermediate School and is open to individuals and families alike. The gym will be open for family friendly basketball games to keep the children entertained.
A Safe Place is celebrating our tenth year raising awareness for domestic violence and sexual assault via our Walk A Mile event within the community!
Walk A Mile for A Safe Place is a family friendly one mile walk that begins and ends at Children’s Beach. The event shines a light on some of the often-silent issues that our island faces, promotes healthy relationships and families, and helps fund our domestic violence and sexual assault survivor programs and services within the Nantucket community.
It truly takes a village, and we hope that you will join us on April 6!
Interested in being a patron or business sponsor for this year’s event?
Email rachel@asafeplacenantucket.org for more information.
The White Ribbon Day Campaign
Created in 1999 by a group of men in reaction to one man’s massacre of fourteen female college students in Montreal (specifically because they were women), White Ribbon Day is an annual day of recognition of the role men can play in stopping violence against women.
A Safe Place continues to shine a light on this campaign in order to end violence against women and all gender-based violence. We have welcomed local first responders, Nantucket High School students, and various community members in taking the White Ribbon Day Pledge and making a commitment to be part of the solution in ending gender-based violence.
Taking the pledge means not only promising to not be a perpetrator of violence but also promising not to be a silent bystander when you suspect someone is a victim or offender of sexual assault or domestic violence.
A special thank you to Dan Driscoll of September Productions for the creation of A Safe Place’s White Ribbon Day Campaign video.
In 2007 Jane Doe, Inc. launched the Massachusetts White Ribbon Day campaign and joined an international human rights effort, the White Ribbon Campaign, to invite men and boys to be part of the solution in ending violence against women and all forms of gender-based violence.
In 2017 JDI expanded on this work to create the Reimagine Manhood Initiative. By promoting healthy masculinities along with gender equity and racial justice, JDI believes that together we can foster safe and healthy relationships and communities.
