the Informer

This coming week, Jeri Polland of the Center for Community Service, will be setting up “Shop to Stop,” an event that she created in the spirit of donating to shelters for women who have been abused.

The event will be held at Gengras and will be during domestic violence week, Oct. 25 through Oct. 28. There will be a variety of well known stores in the GSU at this time selling their goods to students and faculty. Each vendor cost the stores $75 and all the money will be going to directly charities that aid people struggling with domestic violence. Some of the stores that will be participating include, Game Stop, Origins, Pepperidge Farm, Bow Tie Cinemas, Lea Sophia, Thomas Hooker Brewery and Summer Tan will be there.

There will be several raffles including one from Lea Sophia, which will be giving away some jewelry, Bow Tie Cinemas who will be giving away free movie tickets, as well as Origins who will have gift baskets of products. In addition, the vendors will all be providing information on their stores as a way of advertising their products to the students.

This is definitely an event that everyone will love, even less shopping-savvy men because Game Spot will be providing free games all day. Also, Kiss 95.7, the radio show that everyone in Connecticut knows and listens to as they get to work or school, will be coming to the university to play music and sponsor the event.

Not only is this event going to be exciting, it is an excellent opportunity for the university to raise awareness about violence against women. It is a subject in desperate need of having more light shed on it. CAPS, the Women’s center, as well as MARS will all be at the event.

Overall, this event is about helping women and fighting the all too common problem of domestic violence. Most of all, this event was created to increase the awareness about this serious topic, and act as inspiration for anyone who is effected by it to speak out and get help.

There will be some students who will be collecting donations for the cause. Vanessa Leveille will be collecting donations of baby items for mothers and children who have gone through domestic violence and are in need. There are other charities that the money earned will be sent to, such as Courtney’s House in Washington, which was created for women who have gone through sex trafficking and local Hartford shelters.

This is an important issue in society today, and having this event at our university is a way that we can all part take in raising awareness to these issues and help the movement toward change. Polland, who set up this whole event from top to bottom says that “this is a world wide problem and by doing this we are getting our community a step forward.” She set up an event that is enjoyable, but at the heart is about making a charitable contribution.

-CC