By Avery Cook
Lamp Staff
SPRINGFIELD – When people think of October, thoughts of Halloween, horror movies and pumpkin spice-flavored coffee usually spring to mind, but what some people don’t know is that October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Domestic violence is a part of our world, but because the subject is not discussed as often, it is often overlooked.
Many faculty here at Lincoln Land have taken to informing the students of domestic violence by wearing purple to show support and doing what they can to spread awareness.
One of them is Professor Coravonne Salm. She decided that for her class her students would develop marketing strategies for Sojourn, a domestic violence shelter dedicated to educating others about domestic violence and servicing those affected by domestic violence.
Sojourn is connected to Sojourn Resale, a thrift store where all proceeds go to help the victims of domestic violence. The store features a variety of clothing, and clothing accessories. Salm was already affiliated with the store as her daughter worked there.
Salm’s students worked to come up with marketing plans for the shelter and store. One of the problems that they faced was the lack of name recognition associated with Sojourn, since many people in Springfield did not really know about it.
The lack of awareness of the shelter and store could easily chalk this up to how domestic violence is sometimes forgotten about in our society. While domestic violence is a known problem, people are not as informed about it as other issues and it seems that people just are not as interested in the subject as they used to be, at least according to Salm.
“The subject [of domestic violence] isn’t as shocking as it used to be when it first became more public knowledge,” Salm said.
The store is located near Starbucks and County Market in the Fairhills Shopping Center at 1919 W. Monroe St. It is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
To learn more about the Sojourn Shelter, check out their website at www.sojournshelter.org.
Avery Cook can be reached at [email protected]
