April 28, 2005

Getting to the point

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event takes a stand against sexual abuse

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

On April 20, male community leaders squeezed their toes into Cinderella-sized stiletto heels and hit the streets to prove a point.

Men from all walks of life hit the streets on April 20 to take part in the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event.

For a three years running, the YWCA of Silicon Valley has successfully taken a whimsical approach to a very serious issue by encouraging men to walk a mile in high heels in an effort to raise awareness and help fight sexual assaults against women.

This year, the light-hearted event served as a fund-raiser for the YWCA’s Rape Crisis Program, generating $10,000 that will provide ongoing aid for the estimated one out of every three women—and one in every 10 men—who will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime.

“That is a staggering statistic to which we need to put an end,” said San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis. “We need to let everyone know that sexual assault against our women will not be tolerated in our community.”

Davis, along with event co-chair and San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Cunneen, led the procession of more than 350 walkers from Caesar Chavez Park down Market Street to San Carlos, Third Street, and Paseo de San Antonio, where refreshments and Band-Aids awaited their arrival at the Montgomery Hotel.

Although they opted for regulation uniform shoes instead of heels, fire chiefs countywide united in a show of support for the YWCA program, including Darrell VonRaesfeld (San Jose), Ben Lopes (Santa Clara), Nick Marinaro (Palo Alto), Chuck Eaneff (Sunnyvale), Jeff Clett (San Jose), Phil Kleinheinz (Santa Clara), and Bill Weisgerber (Milpitas).

“This is the third year we have done this event, but it’s the first year that it was a fundraiser,” admitted YWCA board president Brenda Komar.

“Our goal was $5,000 and we doubled it. We’re very happy about that.”

For their $100 donation, each participant received a free T-shirt, a poncho from Chico’s of Santana Row, a bottle of water, a unique opportunity to borrow their choice of large-sized women’s high heels, and an invitation to a reception sponsored by the hotel’s Paragon Restaurant following the trek. For the less adventurous crowd, regular shoes were also allowed.

The walk touted another first in YWCA history—one that places participants Mike Rosenden, Brian Adams, and Bill Murphy on the board of directors, indications of the growing interest in the subject that places men in positions that have only been occupied by women in the past.

“The popularity has certainly grown,” added Komar. “You get people from all walks of life, including little boys with their polka-dot sandals and others who just showed up and called friends on their cell phones to say they were walking down Third Street in high heels. It was hilarious.”

Mont-gomery Hotel general manager Greg Mauldin sits poised on a bright pink shoe chair, with San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Cunneen and San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis.

While Councilmember Chuck Reed breezed through in boots, fellow Councilmember Ken Yeager took a more drastic approach and learned very quickly that thick socks were a bad idea. However, he couldn’t help but question the concept behind the popular pointed-toed shoes.

“They were very high and very narrow,” Yeager joked. “If I had actually gone to a shoe store for a proper fit, it might have been a more pleasant experience.”

On a more serious note, with over 530 rape-related hospital visits in the past year alone, YWCA CEO Keri Procunier McLain announced the opening of another site at Stanford scheduled to open on May 2 and stressed the importance of the group’s education and advocacy program.

“Those are just the people who have reported,” she said. “Ours really is the rape crisis center for the county. We try to make sure they know what’s going to happen way before it happens during that time. Then we’re there to help them afterwards with ongoing counseling.”

Los Gatos Morning Rotary Club members (l to r) Jim Mealy, Dan Lawson, Tim Lundell, Club President John Curtis, Lee Smith, President-elect Darell Monda, and Greg Stowers get ready to begin the walk. Photos courtesy of Russ Lee.

In addition to offering assistance to victims as old as 89, the Rape Crisis Center has come to the aid of children as young as 1 day old, with a pediatric sexual assault unit that gets both the child and parent through the process. In an effort to circumvent future abuse, they have trained over 19,000 children from kindergarten through high school in awareness and self-defense.

“It is an extremely important thing we’re battling here when we’re talking about sexual assault,” said Chief Davis.

“On behalf of both Jim Cunneen and I, we’d like to seriously thank everyone who took the time to come out here and do this, especially those who were brave enough to don these things.”

Grateful for the participation of leaders such as Davis and Cunneen, McLain credited their involvement with enabling the YWCA to reach a broader section of the community through spearheading a fund-raiser that she said was a, “light-hearted way to approach a very serious issue that is the responsibility of all of us.”

YWCA board president Brenda Komar and CEO Keri Procunier McLain co-chaired the successful event that raised $10,000 for the Rape Crisis Center.

“After all, nothing beats a great pair of legs,” added Cunneen.

Now celebrating its 100th anniversary of service, the YWCA of Silicon Valley has been serving the economic and social needs of Santa Clara County women and their families since 1905. Its ongoing mission is to empower women and eliminate racism by identifying needs and creating opportunities for women, girls and families to improve and enrich their lives while helping them build a better future. It also continually addresses the fundamental issues of racism, hatred and prejudice, and works to build a richer community.

For more information, visit www.ywcasvc.org or call (408) 295-4011.