This February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and me, along with everybody else at A Woman’s Place, whether it be staff members or fellow volunteers, consider this special month a time to raise awareness in our community and, more importantly, to be aware ourselves. Awareness is something that everyone has within them, but not…
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What it Means to be Aware
The Importance of Educating Teens
February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, which calls for action in educating teens and adolescents on what healthy relationships are, as well as how to recognize and react to unhealthy relationships. According to a 2011 CDC nationwide survey, it was found that 23% of females and 14% of males who experienced rape, physical…
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Once a Week, Once in a Lifetime
When I first set foot in the AWP Emergency Shelter in mid-June this past summer, I did not know what to expect. What would I be doing there? Would the clients like me? Would I enjoy this opportunity? And as I have been a volunteer there for almost five months now, I realize, with such…
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Family Matters
While we sit around the dinner table and I look back and forth between my moms, I remember how it was hard to understand, as a kid, that it was okay to have a different family. I used to think that something was missing, that there was something wrong because I didn’t have a father. …
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Carrying on the Legacy
I grew up in the 50’s and early 60’s and was raised by a feminist mother. I didn’t realize that was what she was at the time but I do now. My mom was strong, independent and believed females could do anything. When I look back at that time most households around us were following…
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From the Perspective of a 20 Year Old.
My name is Madeleine Weick and I have just completed a 10 week internship with A Woman’s Place (AWP) through Foundation’s Community Partnerships’ Summer Youth Corps program. The 10 weeks that I interned at AWP were a whirlwind of emotions and experiences. From working in the administrative office to the emergency shelter, I was able to gain a comprehensive understanding…
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Finding Father’s Day
Granddad died when I was quite young. When I was 20-something, my dad once remarked how much he missed talking with him. He wished he could still seek granddad’s advice, benefit from his experience. Dad passed a few years ago also, so I now understand that occasional yearning for paternal wisdom all too well. Not…
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Fairytales
I’ve always been fascinated with folklore. I couldn’t settle for Disney; I wanted to see different versions of every fairytale. In my teens, my brother complained about me reading the Brothers Grimm despite the gore between the pages. In college, I studied Russian Fairytales and learned that every folktale had a hidden meaning for children…
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Everything’s Different Now
I’ll never forget the phone call that Friday morning from my son. Now a freshman at the University of Maine, Josh was 16 at the time, still a junior in high school. “Dad, a girl was stabbed at school this morning.” Josh was calling me from home. Students had been dismissed from school early because…
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