TAYLOR, Texas —
April is both Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month, and one Williamson County town is working to fight against both with one event.
The “Break the Silence” event in Taylor, Texas, is scheduled for Saturday and will highlight all the resources available to survivors of childhood sexual assault.
Marcus Reese, one of the founders of Break the Silence, is a survivor of childhood sexual assault. He wants to help break the stigma for other male survivors, as well as anyone who has been impacted by abuse.
"I know that's a very hard thing, from someone who lived it. But I really wasn't free. And I didn't have my voice back until I broke my silence," Reese said.
Break the Silence also hopes to prevent future abuse by bringing awareness to the issue.
"I want people to know that there's help. You will be believed, and however you want to break your silence," Reese said.
Organization started with discussions at a coffee shop, where friends came together to plan the Break the Silence event.
For Reese, the cause is personal.
"Me, being a product of child sexual abuse, right, I want to advocate and push and really give back into the community that I came from," Reese said.
His abuse started when he was 5, from a family member, and lasted more than a decade.
"The one thing that my abuser held over my head was, 'If you tell someone, things will get worse for you. If you tell someone, no one will believe you.' And that's the silence. And I didn't realize that silence could be so loud," Reese said.
He finally found the strength to break his silence, spoke out against his attacker and got justice.
Now, he's a tennis coach. When he's not serving on the court, he's helping others navigate the system
"I feel if I was fortunate enough to come through my child abuse, to go to court, to seek justice, to get a word of justice for me – not to reach back down and push someone else out, to me, is just is selfish on my part," Reese said.
Saturday's Break the Silence event will include a 3K walk/run through the heart of Taylor and will showcase the resources available to anyone who needs them.
"We're asking people to break their silence, right? But to not have services there, what good would that do? So we wanted to make sure that if you're breaking your silence and you're empowered, there's someone right there on site to help you navigate what the next steps might look like," Reese said.
Reese is joined by many others who are also passionate about raising awareness and breaking the stigma.
"Nobody thinks 'it happens in my family or around me.' That happens always somewhere else in movies and books or [to] someone far away," said Isabella Tebeau, who came up with the idea for Break the Silence. "I had, for years and years and years, the thought [that] someone should do something. And one time, I realized that 'someone should' never works. And I am someone."
Some like Tebeau are helping out of the kindness of their hearts. Others, like Theresa Pore, have been personally impacted.
Pore was abused growing up and recently had a family member close to her abused.
"It's worth it to set aside time for things that are important. And we don't always think that that's important because we don't think 'it happens to me,'" Pore said. "To me, breaking the silence is not only giving parents and children [the] opportunity to talk about things that are going on, but also for adults to literally let go of the bondage that you hold on to."
Pore said she's happy to be a part of something that can help others who may be going through the same thing.
"Bringing that education there and really empowering our community, our children, our family member, our friends with this knowledge, they can now make different decisions," Pore said.
The group is working together for the community to survive, thrive and prevent sexual assault and child abuse.
"I sleep at night knowing that I've made an effort to remove that silence and just remove an extra barrier for someone who's already struggling," Reese said.
The Break the Silence event will be held Saturday, April 15, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Murphy Park in Taylor. Things will kick off with the 3K run/walk. Then there will be a lap that people can take where all the resources agencies will be set up.
Participants can stop by each station to learn about the agencies' services and will get a sticker from each station. Afterwards, they will be entered to win door prizes.
The resource agencies will include the Williamson County Children's Advocacy Center, which helps any child in the county that experiences abuse from the time it's reported all the way up until the case goes to court.
The center's wraparound services include initial forensic interviews, counseling and other things.
"It is very important that residents of Taylor understand that the Children's Advocacy Center is serving Taylor. We provide the counseling services. We are available to serve the schools," said Kerrie Stannell, CEO for the center.
Also present at Saturday's event will be the Taylor Police Department's Victim Services unit, which provide services to all victims of a crime, including child abuse and sexual assault.
"For us to be there to educate the community and be like, 'Hey, this is what there is locally, this is what we have' and make those connections to people and make sure that they meet us and they know us," said Priscilla Moreno, coordinator for the Victim Services unit.
Both the Williamson County Children's Advocacy Center and the Victim Services unit offer wraparound services like counseling and will have their resources on display at Saturday's event.