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Interfaith committee sparks discussion on violence against women

The Rye Women’s Interfaith Committee, a community of women from different religious faiths, will tackle the topics of human trafficking and domestic violence against women in their annual conference this month.

 

The Rev. Kym McNair, coordinator of community and education engagement for My Sister’s Place. Photo courtesy bedfordpreschurch.com

The presentation, titled “Women Under Threat—Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking,” will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at the Rye Presbyterian Church at 3:30 p.m.

Admission for the event is $15 at the door.

Attendees will be treated to a discussion led by the Rev. Kym McNair, coordinator of community and education engagement for My Sister’s Place, a nonprofit organization in White Plains that offers emotional and legal support to victims of human trafficking and domestic violence.

Caroll Claps, a coordinator for the event, said the presentation was chosen because the committee wanted to feature a nonprofit organization and what it has to offer.

Along with supporting the local organization, Claps said, they wanted to choose a meaningful topic.

“There is quite a lot of information [out there] as far as violence to women and people who come out… will learn that this [presentation] is quite the topic for today’s society,” said Lynn Staley, a coordinator for the event.

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, a hotline service for victims of human trafficking, in 2017, New York state had 180 human trafficking cases reported.

The presentation will work to bring awareness to the broader community on the topic of trafficking.

David Ryan, a founder of the Westchester County Anti-Trafficking Task Force, a group of organizations who work together to respond to and end cases of human trafficking, said one of the most important things to focus on when it comes to human trafficking is raising awareness.

In prior years, the Rye Women’s Interfaith Committee has discussed topics including religious diversity. Photo courtesy turkishculturalcenter.org

The task force also includes My Sister’s Place and the International Organization for Adolescents, a non-government organization that focuses on cases of children and youth trafficking.

“Our goal ultimately is to find these victims, get them out of the environment they’re in, and get them the help and services they need, and ultimately hold the traffickers accountable,” Ryan said.

Along with a discussion on human trafficking, McNair will speak on domestic violence.

“Domestic abuse often goes unreported,” Claps said. “[There are] women and men who are married and living in Rye, on the outside they look like a perfectly happy family, and on the inside, they’re not.”

According to the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, an agency that works to respond and prevent cases of domestic violence, in 2016 “the state’s Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline received 8,584 calls. An 18 percent increase from 2015.”

Of these calls, 12 percent came from Westchester County, which was the second highest volume of calls from any county in the state.

“I can say that once people become more aware [of abuse tactics], they talk about it more, and become aware of what they’ve overlooked,” McNair said.

She went on to say that people tend to think of domestic violence as primarily physical and sexual. When you take those two out of the equation, people realize there are a lot more types of violence, including psychological and emotional.

This year’s Rye Women’s Interfaith Committee annual conference is at the Rye Presbyterian Church. File photo

Claps encourages people to come out to the event because along with raising awareness, McNair will speak on the things that My Sister’s Place has to offer those who might be in unsafe situations.

“I think people will be surprised, and they’ll find out information about the whole [My Sister’s Place] program itself,” Claps said.

McNair said that anyone can benefit from attending the presentation.

“My hope is that people will have a better understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence and human trafficking, as well as how people can call on My Sister’s Place for help,” McNair said. “We have offices, lawyers, [and] councilors.”