How Moms Can Make a Difference

We cannot underestimate the power of awareness. Remember a time when you learned something new — how that knowledge may have opened doors and empowered your thinking.

Childhood sexual abuse is an epidemic that creeps in the darkness. Talking about it brings it to the light.

Rise and Shine Movement wanted to make a difference this April in honor of Child Abuse Awareness month. We came in contact with a local organization called the Philadelphia Children's Alliance, who serve children who have disclosed childhood sexual abuse.

Each month PCA interviews approximately 150 sexually abused children. 150 each month!

But how could we help?

Before an interview, each child is allowed to choose a stuffed animal to hold (and keep) during the difficult interview process.

So Rise and Shine Movement decided to sponsor a teddy bear drive during the month of April to collect stuffed animals for these sweet kids. Hopefully, our donations can offer a little bit of comfort during a confusing, painful time.

Will you help us?

The first thing you can do is donate. Ask an organization, school, or sports club you know to collect a donation! We already have a church, a soccer club, an elementary school, and several MOPS groups participating in the drive with us.

Or get a few of your friends in on it with you.

Second, help spread awareness by sharing on social media about the #GreatTeddyBearDrive. Let people know about April's Child Abuse Awareness month and what we're doing at Rise and Shine Movement to help adults talk to their kids about sexual abuse prevention.

On behalf of the children who have experienced a horror no one should, thank you for making a difference!

For donation guidelines and locations, please visit our #GreatTeddyBearDrive webpage.

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Upload a selfie or a picture of your group with your bear donations to social media.

Add one of these tweets/captions or make up your own!

• I donated a bear to the #GreatTeddyBearDrive. Will you? RiseAndShineMovement.org #CSAHope (tweet this with your selfie)

• I'm making a difference in the life of a child abuse victim! #GreatTeddyBearDrive #CSAHope http://ow.ly/uu4Ve (tweet this with your selfie)

Why I Choose to Talk About Sexual Abuse

I have read a lot about shame. How it quiets and isolates.

The way we hide the feeling bubbling up inside — behind our reactions, our defense, a calm, in-control exterior.

Shame and fear lurk in the depths. And sometimes we don't recognize them.

We all fall victim to shame.

I am a sexual abuse survivor. And I've been working with an organization, Rise and Shine Movement, for the last 4 years helping to spread a message of childhood sexual abuse prevention.

Shame has sexual violation entangled in its snare. Wrapped around its foot, pulling it deeper and deeper into the depths.

There are warriors out there fighting — Mary, Carolyn, Erin. Speaking and writing about childhood sexual abuse. Dragging it out into the light. Hoping you will hear their message and break free from shame's grip.

We are in the middle of a battle and it's fought in our own homes with our own children.

The shame silencer makes it hard. Uncomfortable you wonder, "what do I say, when do I say it?" And that self-doubt discourages you from saying anything — hoping, praying it won't happen to your family.

But YOU are the front line. You are the foundation maker, the bridge builder with your kids.

I know you want to protect them.

You bundle them up for the cold, take them to the doctor when they are sick, make sure they know they are extraordinarily loved, and teach them about fire safety and stranger danger…

But is sexual abuse prevention part of your parenting, too?

We want them to "say no to drugs" and we tell them about strangers taunting with candy or lost dogs. But the truth is it's almost always someone they know, someone they love and trust.

And if you don't talk to them about their bodies and that they are allowed to say no to touches that don't feel right. If you don't help them know their own boundaries and empower them to use them.

Your honest conversations reinforce that they can come to you, that you are a safe person. If we don't instruct them to yell, run, and who to tell then the predator will find them.

And you'll have to talk about it then.

We think we choose the battles we engage in. But sexual violation chooses you — the unprepared, the ignorant, and the innocent.

We can choose to face it. We can choose to talk about it. And we can do it together.

By Christy Mae Willard