THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506030285
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Every day, Portsmouth public school counselor B. Seko Varner sees the problems of kids who've been sexually assaulted. Most are between 11 and 14 years old. Some are as young as eight.
He refers the abused children to Response-Sexual Assault Support Services in Norfolk.
Varner knows the group's work. His mother is treatment coordinator at the private agency, which counsels people affected by sexual crimes. Varner has completed Response's volunteer training for making presentations on the issue.
He knows how chronically stretched the group's budget is, how big its need. Each year, the agency helps more than 1,100 sexual assault victims, family members and friends. It also provides educational and training programs for another 4,300 lay people and professionals.
Varner's girlfriend, an unpublished poet, recently was printing a couple dozen of her works on a word processor. One, in particular, caught Varner's eye. The poem was titled ``Good Woman.'' It talked about women maintaining self-esteem, feeling empowered, and taking control of their lives.
This is a lot of what Response is about.
``I was reading it and I said, `Hey - this should be on a T-shirt!' '' Varner said.
Something clicked.
He and his girlfriend, Rhonda L. Foreman, pooled $450 to have her poem printed on 150 shirts. Then they lined up a couple stores in Norfolk and Virginia Beach to sell them, starting this weekend.
The profits - $400, if all the shirts sell - will go to Response.
``I thought it would be a good poem definitely for women, first of all,'' said Varner. ``And I thought it could do some good for Response.''
Varner didn't wait for someone to ask him to help. He didn't set up an elaborate, multimedia fund-raising project with celebrity spokespeople and a ``National Day of.'' He simply saw something in the community he thought needed doing, and he's trying to do it.
The people of Response are surprised and delighted. Out of a $173,000 budget, the agency receives about $81,200 from the United Way and another $75,000 from federal, state and local government grants. The remaining almost $17,000 comes from fund-raisers, membership and training fees and contributions.
Most contributions come from church or community groups. This is the group's first private T-shirt sale.
The poem ``is a positive statement,'' said Nancy M. Brock, Response's executive director. ``So much of what we do is negative. . . . A lot of what we do is pick up the pieces.''
While the troubled students he sends to Response are helped, Varner said he knew more could be reached if Response could afford more books, videos and other educational materials.
``A lot of the students I refer don't have money or resources,'' he said, ``and they go without.'' MEMO: The T-shirts, white or tan, will sell for about $10 and be available
at Art N Design at The Waterside in Norfolk, African Arts at Lynnhaven
Mall in Virginia Beach or Response at 253 W. Freemason St. in Norfolk.
ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER
B. Seko Varner, left, a Portsmouth public school counselor, and
Rhonda L. Foreman are collaborating to put Rhonda's poem on T-shirts
to sell to raise money for Response-Sexual Assault Support Services
in Norfolk.
by CNB