Daniel Wells, a Penn State Schuylkill engineering student, played an upscale tune on his saxophone outside Pottsville's Union Station late Thursday afternoon, as a crowd of 125 gathered to support the fight against domestic violence.
"There's more than 100 here," said Dale L. Repp, Pottsville, program director in the school of criminal justice at McCann School of Business, Pottsville.
Sarah T. "Sally" Casey, executive director of Schuylkill Women In Crisis, confirmed the total number at the end of the hour-long event, the first "Take Back The Night" event in Schuylkill County.
"I think we'll do this again next year," Casey said afterward. While Thursday's event went off without a hitch, Casey said, looking to next year's event, "we always find ways to improve upon things."
The event was co-sponsored by McCann's and Penn State Schuylkill, Casey said she even saw a few students from Alvernia University Schuylkill Center, Cressona.
Walkers, many of whom were wearing black-colored shirts promoting the event and purple ribbon pins, gathered at Union Station at 5 p.m. At 5:15 p.m., with a Pottsville police escort and assistance from Pottsville fire police, the group started walking north on the east side of Centre Street, then turned north on Laurel Boulevard up to the courthouse.
Speakers on the courthouse steps included Ann Marie Barket, president of the SWIC board of directors; Aliah Roseman, a copy editor at The Republican-Herald, who suggested SWIC start a Take Back The Night event in the county; Schuylkill County Commissioner Gary Hess; and Cindy Woltz, Orwigsburg, a SWIC volunteer.
Woltz, who moved to the county from West Virginia almost a year ago, said she enjoys volunteering for SWIC. While working at a fundraiser at Fairlane Village mall for SWIC recently, she said she was inspired by the public support for the program.
"A woman came up. She was shopping with her daughter. And she said 'Are you from SWIC?' And I said 'yes.' And she said 'Thank you so much. My mother and I were victims of abuse when I was a child. And because of SWIC, I am where I am today with my daughter.' And that still gives me chills. Sometimes, as everybody can attest, sometimes what's important is just being here or bringing the issues to light or giving someone just a smile or a hug," Woltz said.
The first documented TBTN event in the United States took place as a candlelight procession through the streets of Philadelphia in October 1975. Citizens of Philadelphia rallied together after the murder of young microbiologist, Susan Alexander Speeth, who was stabbed by a stranger a block from her home while walking by herself, according to takebackthenight.org.