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Bailey Thompson<\/strong> | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n Alpha Chi Omega sisters in black dresses and purple ribbons welcomed guests on Nov. 1 to their event with Kappa Sigma, \u201cMy Little Black Dress Doesn\u2019t Mean Yes.\u201d The Greek organizations joined together to raise funds for The Center for Hope and Safety, a domestic violence shelter in Salem.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe help victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking,\u201d said Stephen Broncho, the Community Engagement Manager at The Center for Hope and Safety. \u201cLast year, we had over 26,000 contacts to our program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Two Alpha Chi Omega members shared their personal experiences with domestic violence, and the President of Kappa Sigma and senior computer science major, Brandon Linton, conveyed a number of statistics about the prevalence of domestic violence in the United States, particularly amongst college-aged women. However, he also stated that there is no one type of person domestic violence targets.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDomestic violence does not care about your age, your race, your skin color, your religion or your sexual orientation,\u201d said Linton. \u201cDomestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Linton then stated that the biggest problem survivors of domestic violence face is not being heard. Although survivors have many reasons for not reporting, he shared that some of the most common ones include not believing the police could help, not wanting to get the abuser in trouble, not feeling their experience was important enough to report and being afraid of retaliation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here to tell you that there are people in this room and on this campus who care about you,\u201d Linton said. \u201cIt is up to us to change the stigma and stereotypes about domestic violence and expose domestic violence for what it is. Too often these terrible crimes go unnoticed \u2014 unseen and unspoken \u2014 and the cycle of violence continues thriving.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Although there is still a long way to go, Vice President Philanthropy of Alpha Chi Omega and sophomore ASL\/English interpreting major, Serenna Galloway, shared that she has hope that events like this will make a positive change in Western\u2019s community.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s so prominent right now, and to have a fraternity join with a sorority and break the stigma of that is awesome,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cWe hope that other survivors will be able to speak up, or if they need someone to rely on, they know that they can come to us and we\u2019ll find resources for them\u2026we know sometimes it\u2019s harder \u00a0to come up yourself, so when you have support it\u2019s a lot easier.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Through their 50\/50 and prize basket raffles, Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma ultimately raised $779 for Center for Hope and Safety.<\/span><\/p>\n