Cumberland County/Fort Bragg/Pope AFB, NC Area
The Board of Directors of the Child Advocacy Center, Inc. (CAC) located in Fayetteville, NC felt it was important to make Darkness to Light a primary focus of their prevention efforts. Stacy Pendarvis, the CAC Prevention Coordinator, was trained as an authorized Darkness to Light facilitator in March 2006.
Darkness to Light kick-off in Grand Style:
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Fayetteville's Mayor, Tony Chavonne and
the Fort Bragg Garrison Commander were first to sign the community
pledge!
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The Darkness to Light kick-off event, sponsored by local community partner, PWC-
Public Works Commission, was held at a popular and long-running community event,
4th Friday, on September 22, 2006. The event was held outdoors in the evening
at The Market House, in downtown Fayetteville. There were door prizes and give-aways
including glow in the dark CAC/Darkness to Light wristbands. The main purpose
of the event was the CAC asking the community to join hands with them by signing
a pledge to protect children created by Stacy. One thing the pledge asks of participants:
Attend a Darkness to Light class! Community leaders who were the first to sign
the pledge were Fayetteville’s Mayor, Tony Chavonne and the Fort Bragg Garrison
Commander, COL Fox. Citizens had the opportunity that evening to register to
attend one of 7 upcoming training sessions, which were held in October and November
2006. Several TV stations, as well as the local newspaper, covered the event
and highlighted Darkness to Light Stewards as a new and timely prevention program
in the community.
Darkness to Light Media Campaign:
 At the same time, the CAC’s local media campaign began airing Darkness to Light commercials (purchased with funds from an anonymous donor and airing on Time Warner Cable through donated air time) to further promote this prevention effort. There were news releases and feature articles running in various local papers. Lamar advertising donated billboards to promote Darkness to Light in Fayetteville. And in February, a journalist from the Fayetteville Observer attended a Darkness to Light Stewards class, and wrote a wonderful newspaper article!!!
The Military Connection:
The CAC has partnered with the military to make Darkness to Light classes available
to even more local citizens via Ft. Bragg Army  Community Service. The Fayetteville/Cumberland
County area has close ties with their military neighbors at Fort Bragg and Pope
Air Force Base, and through collaborative efforts between the CAC and Army Community
Services (ACS) the Center’s authorized Darkness to Light facilitator, Stacy Pendarvis,
began to offer trainings on the military installation to military beneficiaries.
Subsequently, two ACS trainers became authorized facilitators and Fort Bragg
now enjoys at least one Stewards class a month.
Stepping it up:
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| Stacy Pendarvis with an Investigator from the Child Advocacy Center. |
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With the increase in Stewards classes and the scale of their marketing efforts,
the CAC decided to step up their efforts where Darkness to Light was concerned.
In March 2007, the CAC Prevention Coordinator, Stacy Pendarvis, became a Darkness
to Light Instructor. Subsequently, the Cumberland County Collaborative (a group
of agencies concerned with the welfare of children) donated funds to the CAC
to use as scholarships to train more Darkness to Light authorized facilitators.
With these funds, Stacy was able (with Darkness to Light’s own Julie) to train
an additional 9 facilitators, including 3 CAC staff members and 2 CAC volunteers,
as well as 2 Cumberland County School Social Workers and 2 Fort Bragg School
counselors.
The Next Phase:
Because the CAC is supported by visionaries who care deeply about stopping child
abuse, nothing is done on a small scale in Fayetteville. When Stacy went to the
marketing committee and said “I’d like to see Darkness to Light offered in churches,
what about sending out a letter?” she had no idea where that would lead her.
That small effort became the CAC’s newest initiative, the “Year of the Child
Campaign.” Through the hard work of local area faith leaders and a volunteer
faith-based steering committee, community churches have signed on to promote
this initiative in their churches. On October 14th, 11 local churches, some
of the biggest in Fayetteville, kicked-off the “Year of the Child” community
campaign. This campaign includes prevention programs, literature, speakers,
and monthly topics for sermons, newsletter articles, classes and discussion.
January 2008 is the month that Fayetteville and surrounding areas will devote
to Darkness to Light Stewards!!! By participating in this campaign, churches
are sending a clear message that the community is serious about serving families,
protecting children and stopping abuse. Once again, the Fayetteville Observer
came through in supporting the CAC and printed a story about this campaign.
They have also promised a feature story about one of the monthly topics, but
it is unknown at this time which month this will happen.
Future Goals:
Some of the things currently being discussed are a school wide implementation
of Stewards in Cumberland County schools and a "Not in our Neighborhood" Darkness
to Light initiative and a version of the Darkness to Light Prevent-a-thon in
April for Child Abuse Prevention Month. Additionally, the CAC is following the
lead of Darkness to Light in offering Stewards via colleges and universities.
They have taken a few steps in that direction as Methodist University hosted
a Stewards class in 2007 and Spring 2008 will see two classes offered at Fayetteville
Technical Community College! We’ll keep you posted on updates.
Stacy and the CAC in Fayetteville are honored to be a part of the Darkness to
Light movement! For more information you may contact the Prevention Coordinator,
Stacy Pendarvis at (910) 486-9700 or cacprevention@childadvocacycenter.com. Visit them on the web at www.childadvocacycenter.com
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