The Catholic Student Association held its "Strike Back" concert Tuesday night in the Tavern to raise money for ChildHelp USA, a group that works on the treatment and prevention of child abuse.
CSA President Danielle Giusto came up with the idea to raise money for the organization because her best friend from home was physically abused as a child by her parents. As a result, preventing child abuse has been Giusto's lifelong passion.
"I was told growing up you find an issue you're passionate about," Giusto said. "Make it your life's worth to work for that cause, and child abuse has been something that's most important to me."
Giusto has wanted to hold a concert for the past five years, but never had the resources to organize one until she assumed her current position as CSA President. The CSA board approved the concert idea last spring.
Speaking before the concert, Giusto told the audience how her best friend would spend most of her time at Guisto's house, fearing she would be abused at home. Guisto said she worried terribly about her friend's safety and sometimes after late night hysterical phone calls, "I had to go to school the next day afraid that my best friend was murdered because her parents went too far."
One of the major problems associated with child abuse is that abuse victims often don't report abuse out of fear of their attackers, according to Bootsie Humenansky, president of ChildHelp USA's Virginia chapter, which received the proceeds from Saturday's concert. Humenansky said child abuse experts believe one-third of cases are never recorded, thus making it a "silent problem."
ChildHelp USA is a national nonprofit organization that focuses on the treatment and prevention of child abuse and negligence. It was founded in 1959 and featured one of the first 1-800 numbers for abused children to call, according to Humenansky. One of her goals is for the whole country to know their number, 1-800-4-A-CHILD.
ChildHelp USA's Virginia chapter has three facilities for abused children including a 270-acre village in Culpepper County that Humenansky says is "the end of the road" for the children.
On average, most children stay at this facility, which doubles as a residence hall and an educational facility, for 14 months, according to the organization's website. The other venues include a small group home and the ChildHelp USA Children's Center of Virginia, which has all the facilities needed for an abused child.
One unique feature of the Children's Center is a room where children are interviewed about their abuse. Many children are typically intimidated while talking to a police officer, or fear that no one believes their story after being interviewed multiple times, Humenanasky said. ChildHelp USA has a room decorated for children with a two-way mirror, so children are only interviewed once, she added.
Most of the concert performers were members of the AU community, but one band traveled from Loyola University. That band's drummer, Mike Barry, is a friend of Giusto and wanted to help in any way he could. All the performers volunteered their time, including singer/songwriter and AU freshman Rachel Levitin.
"At first, I talked to Danielle through e-mails not knowing what the cause was," said Levitin. "But once I learned it was about child abuse, I needed to be a part of it because we need to stop it from happening. If it does happen we need to stop it and find answers. Hopefully, people will tell their friends and it will go down the line," she said.
One performer Zo Tobi, who is in the Washington Semester program, donated half his CD sale profits to ChildHelp USA. Before performing, Tobi said he couldn't think of a better reason to get together and share some music.
Humaenansky was thrilled students turned out for the event. Although concert attendance was below what Giusto had expected, Humenansky she said she realized the attendees could be doing other things rather than listening about child abuse.
In addition to hosting the concert as a fundraiser for ChildHelp USA, the CSA also sent out letters to parents and families of AU Catholic community members asking for donations. As of Saturday, just three days into the mail campaign, the group had already raised $1000. Giusto's goal is to raise $1500, but she hopes they will surpass that amount.
