Our Operations Manager, Mark O’Hare attended the White Ribbon Day Community Festival at Centennial Pioneer Park, Gosnells on Saturday 24th November.
Organised by Save the Children and the City of Gosnells, this was a free community event celebrating White Ribbon Day which encouraged members of the local community and community services to come together to recognise and raise awareness on the positive role men can play in preventing violence against women.
With a free BBQ, bouncy castle, children’s play area, face painting, drumming circle, family and kids’ activities, it certainly was a fun day out for all those involved.
Mark manned the Stopping Family Violence stall and provided information about SFV and flyers for the network of services that we work closely with. To engage with the public at the event, Mark hosted an activity which involved both children and adults from a number of different cultures and backgrounds working together to complete a huge piece of artwork to represent what makes them feel safe. Interestingly, for most it was the day to day activities in the home with loved ones that helped them feel safe. The activity helped the community connect and share in an accepting and non-judgemental way about what was important to them around safety. Ages of ‘artists’ ranged from around 3 years to 60 years.
The artists were provided an SFV coffee cup (and some lollies for the younger artists) with the message “Together we can make it stop”. Although there wasn’t a lot of discussion about Family and Domestic Violence on the day, there was very clear messaging about FDV and it is hoped that those who attended feel more confident that FDV is no longer a private issue and we can make it stop together.
See below for some of the amazing artwork done on the day!
