AMITY, Maine — The Amity sky will be aglow with muted color on Saturday, April 25, to bring awareness to a childhood danger.
Cheryl Williams is hoping to make people more aware of this threat during April’s National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Williams is hosting a Lighted Balloon event from 7-9 p.m. at the Reed School House on Route 1.
Those attending the event will receive a balloon with a mini glow stick inside it to release into the night sky. Afterward, cupcakes decorated with teal ribbons and in special boxes will be served.
“I am gearing the event toward child sexual abuse,” Williams said. “That is what happened to me and I wanted to hold an event more specific to this issue.”
Williams has published a book on her healing journey that will be released later this year called “Stolen Innocence: Let My Healing Begin.” Her publisher, Sharon Rose Bradley-Munn, publisher of Finally Free Promotions, will also be on hand at the Lighted Balloon event.
“I want to be very open about what happened,” she said. “I am in hopes that different ones coming who may have never spoken up may get the courage to speak up.”
Williams is hoping for a good turnout for the Lighted Balloon event. She has ordered 48 balloons, with teal ribbons on the string. She will have other balloons on hand if more people show up.
“I might not get that many people, but that is what I am planning for,” she said. “I have quite a few people who said they are coming.”
The Lighted Balloon event will open with Williams speaking to those in attendance, giving out statistics, along with describing the effects of child sexual abuse. Williams’ publisher will read a few pages of her manuscript and open the floor for a question-answer period. She is also looking for use of a keyboard as her publisher is an accomplished writer/singer.
“I am going to leave it open at one point for anyone who would like to speak,” Williams said. “I want them to feel it is a safe place, if they feel and choose to do that.”
Others at the Lighted Balloon event may never have been sexually abused, but Williams wants those people to “understand.”
“I don’t think people fully understand the effect it has on a person,” she said. “I want them to realize what one goes through and the healing journey. It is something you never get over. You do heal. You find a new normal. You can live a happy and productive life.
“But, it is totally something you never get over,” she added. “You are going to have those triggers that come out of nowhere.”
Williams advocates that if a child is molested that the parents get the child help right away.
“Parents need to be more aware and to realize that the biggest percent of the time that it is someone they know, someone they trust, that is going to molest a child. It usually is never someone they do not know. I would encourage parents to get help for their child if that should ever happen because eventually, somewhere down the road, it is going to surface.”
