Clothesline Project Airs Domestic Abuse Issues

David & Margaret Youth and Family Services’ Clothesline Project is spearheaded by Azusa Pacific University interns Stacie Andre (left) and Kristina Wolford, who display two of the 30 shirts created by the girls in the agency’s Residential Program.

The Clothesline Project honors women and child survivors, as well as victims, of abuse. Inspired by the power of the AIDS Quilt, the project uses the concept of shirts hanging on a clothesline as the vehicle for raising awareness about this issue.

The idea is as simple as it is natural: Doing laundry has always been considered “women’s work,” and the shirts allow each woman to tell her own story in her own way, using words and/or art to decorate her shirt. The first Clothesline Project, held in Hyannis, Massachusetts in October 1990 with 31 shirts, soon became a national effort.

David & Margaret Youth and Family Services in La Verne will host one of the estimated 500 Clothesline Projects taking place this year both nationally and internationally. It will be held during Child Abuse Prevention Month to honor survivors and memorialize victims, aid in the healing of survivors and family, and act as an educational tool for those who see it.

D&M’s project is spearheaded by Stacie Andre and Kristina Wolford, who are pursuing their master’s degrees in social work at Azusa Pacific University, and will feature 30 shirts created by girls in our Residential Program.

Stacie and Kristina point out that as a result of domestic violence, about 60,000 California children have been removed from their homes and placed in foster or group homes such as D&M. Research has shown that females who experience parents’ violence as children and adolescents are significantly more likely to become victims of dating violence, and are at an increased risk of exhibiting aggressive, anxious, depressed or hyperactive behaviors.

As a result, healing from the effects of witnessing or experiencing domestic violence, whether verbal, physical or sexual, is a demanding but important process.

The interns are working on The Clothesline Project as part of their degree “capstone project,” which benefits the agency they are working with or raising awareness as part of a national effort. In this case, it achieves both goals.

The display, which will be held on campus on Saturday, April 14, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will be augmented by a bake sale and sale of pottery hand-made by the residents. Proceeds will benefit the Residential Program.

David & Margaret Youth and Family Services is located at 1350 Third St., La Verne. For more information, please call (909) 596-5921 ext. 3153, or visit their Website at www.DavidandMargaret.org.