DARKNESSS TO LIGHT
Our Mission
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to diminish the incidence and impact of child sexual abuse, so that more children will grow up healthy and whole
to diminish the incidence and impact of child sexual abuse, so that more children will grow up healthy and whole •our programs will raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse
our programs will raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse The Exchange Club of Kiawah-Seabrook is Leading the Way!
In 2008 the Exchange Club of Kiawah-Seabrook provided Darkness to Light, a local non-profit, with substantial funds to train Charleston-area parents and youth-serving organizations how to prevent, recognize and respond to child sexual abuse. This project is meeting with great success. However, many people do not have a clear understanding of Darkness to Light and its mission.
Darkness to Light was founded in 2000 by Anne Lee and a group of dedicated supporters. Anne believed that parents and other adults were not doing an adequate job of protecting children from sexual abuse, primarily because they didn’t know the facts. She felt that society was putting the burden of preventing sexual abuse on children, especially through programs like Good Touch/Bad Touch. She found it unrealistic to expect a nine-year old child to fend off the sexual advances of an adult, especially when that adult was statistically likely to be family or an authority figure in the child’s life.
Anne wanted to implement an adult-focused child sexual abuse prevention program in the Charleston area. She searched the nation for a program that would meet this need. There were none. So, she decided that Darkness to Light would have to develop a program. Eight years later, Darkness to Light distributes the only adult-focused prevention program that has been empirically demonstrated effective in changing adult’s child-protective behaviors. To date, over 150,000 adults have taken the training. If each adult trained is able to impact the lives of ten children in the years after taking the program, then 1.5 million children are safer because of it!
The strategy Darkness to Light uses to spread its message and its program is based on business models. The organization trains facilitators from all over the world to lead the program, and then supports those facilitators as they offer the program in their own communities. Darkness to Light charges $10 per training kit, which facilitators (or the organizations they represent) are able to pay for by charging for the training or acquiring grants and donations to cover the cost. Although revenues from the sale of training and products do not yet sustain Darkness to Light, it is only a matter of time.
Through its support of Darkness to Light, the Exchange Club of Kiawah-Seabrook has demonstrated real leadership. Exchange Clubs and Centers throughout the nation have typically focused on preventing physical abuse and neglect. Only in Charleston have Exchange Clubs taken on the thorny issue of child sexual abuse. This has not escaped the attention of Exchange Club Centers around the country. Several have inquired about offering Darkness to Light’s program in their own communities!
