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03/29/2017 08:30 AMAfter Lynn Clark’s son and daughter grew up and moved out, she found herself with extra time on her hands. About eight years ago, she saw a picture of the Killingworth Women’s Organization (KWO) in the Killingworth Crier and was intrigued. She reached out for more information and has been involved ever since.
“It looked like a nice group of women and it was amazing how much time frees up after your kids grow up,” says Lynn, who is a clinical psychologist. “Suddenly your life is your own again and I liked the things they were doing and wanted to get involved. I’m in my late 60s, so I was in college in the ’60s—so I’m of that generation.”
While Lynn is involved in many projects through the KWO, her current focus is on co-chairing the Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention (DVAP) committee with Sandy Allard. DVAP has partnered with Artful Living Productions to present a dramatic reading of letters from the Stanford rape case.
The letters refer to the 2015 rape by Stanford University student Brock Allen Turner of an unconscious woman; Turner faced up to 14 years imprisonment but was sentenced to six months’ confinement. The statement by the victim, identified as “Emily Doe,” was widely shared online and has become a rallying cry against unfair rape sentencing practices.
“There was a letter that the victim wrote and she asked to read it in court to her attacker,” says Lynn. “People found the letter and were reading it and talking about it. A group of actresses read it as performance, which gave me the idea it would make a fantastic dramatic performance. It’s an amazing letter and I thought the performance would look like Vagina Monologues—just three stools and spotlights.”
When Lynn shared her idea with Killingworth First Selectman Cathy Iino, Iino suggested contacting Chris Solimene of Artful Living Productions. Solimene not only used parts of the victim’s letter, but also excerpts from a letter from Turner and his father, to write a script for the performance, titled The Letter: Beacon from a Lighthouse.
“We wanted to make it short and powerful and Chris wrote a fabulous script,” says Lynn. “We’re trying to get to the high school students. We want to make girls aware of this danger.”
While part of the goal is raising awareness of the dangers of sexual assault, rapes, and domestic violence, another one of Lynn’s goals is to help shift the mindset surrounding these crimes. At the end of the production, there will be a short clip from Joe Biden’s “1 Is 2 Many” campaign, which has a goal of reducing violence toward women.
“We tend to see these as women’s issues because women are victims, but they’re actually men’s issues because the real question is why are men beating up women or sexually abusing women?” says Lynn. “The program Biden is doing is trying to treat it as a men’s problem and educating our boys.”
The free performance, which will be held at the Haddam-Killingworth High School on Thursday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m., was scheduled during April as it is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the KWO presented an educational program featuring a state trooper, a representative from a women’s shelter, and more.
“That was very successful and we won a national award from the Women’s Organizations of America so that was very motivating,” says Lynn. “We are helping to educate people.”
The program in October was videotaped so it could be made available and The Letter: Beacon from a Lighthouse will also be filmed. There are 12 people on the DVAP committee and Solimene and the actors have all donated their time to this project.
“We raised money to do this and everyone working on it is a volunteer,” says Lynn. “If we just reduce this count by one, that’d be good. If we only influence one person and prevent one incident from happening, that’ll be enough for us, but one will never know.”
This is not the only project that Lynn is spearheading. She is working with Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (irisct.org) and the Killingworth Rotary Club on the Killingworth Refugee Resettlement Coalition with a goal of facilitating the move of a refugee family from the Middle East or Africa to the area.
“IRIS places more refugees than any other organization in Connecticut,” says Lynn “You partner with them, do research on what you’re getting into, and get things set up. You have to find housing, make sure the schools are welcoming, find businesses that will hire people with limited English skills, and hold fundraisers. Our goal is that they are financially independent in six months.”
When Lynn first had the idea, Iino connected her with the Rotary and they had their first meeting in January. The group has been fundraising with a goal of raising $50,000 to cover the first six months of rent payments as well as household items like furniture and clothing.
The next fundraiser will be a dinner with two seatings at the Whistle Stop Café in Deep River on Friday, April 7. Tickets are $35 and the event is BYOB.
“The owner is not only donating her space and equipment, but all of the food and materials,” says Lynn. “We aren’t sure on the menu yet, but it will be an exotic dinner and we’re grateful to her for her support.”
Lynn noted that the Killingworth Refugee Resettlement Coalition has had support from many organizations in town as well as residents offering to volunteer or donate. Lynn enjoys seeing people come together to work toward a common goal.
Over her years involved with the KWO, she has seen many projects come together. In addition to making a difference in the community, she has had the opportunity to meet many new people.
“It’s a growing club with new people continuing to join,” says Lynn. “It’s been really interesting. People work really hard to make these things happen. It has allowed me to put together good people and pursue ideas of things we can do, something that would be very hard to do on my own.”
On Thursday, April 6, the Killingworth Women’s Organization, in conjunction with Artful Living Productions, will present a dramatic reading of The Letter: Beacon from a Lighthouse. The free program will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Haddam-Killingworth High School, 95 Little City Road, Higganum.