Posted: 2/19/2009
This February, 18 students and staff members from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health will come together to raise funds and awareness to stop violence against women and girls. As part of the global V-Day 2009 Campaign, the group will host a fundraiser social, present an interactive domestic violence workshop, and stage two benefit performances of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues.
“As members of the medical community and the health care field, I think each cast member has been privy to the pervasiveness of violence against women,” says Maren Kepler, a Hopkins nursing student in the accelerated class of 2009 and cast member in the JHU performance of The Vagina Monologues, which will be held February 27 and 28, 2009. “Being a part of The Vagina Monologues provides the cast and volunteers with a creative and therapeutic outlet within which to raise awareness about the debilitating nature of violence we see as professionals in the health care field.”
Planned and implemented entirely by volunteers from the three schools, proceeds from Johns Hopkins University V-Day 2009 will benefit Baltimore’s victims of domestic violence at House of Ruth Maryland and Circle of Health International whose mission is to build the capacity of women’s health care professionals in crisis settings. Over the past two years, the Hopkins V-Day Campaign raised nearly $18,000 for Baltimore charities.
In addition to performing The Vagina Monologues, the students have organized a pre-performance fundraiser and a workshop to raise awareness of violence against women and girls. In Her Shoes, held on February 26, is an interactive workshop simulating the roles of a victim of domestic violence and her abuser with facilitator Ellyn Loy from House of Ruth, Maryland.
“The Johns Hopkins University V-Day 2009 Campaign at has been an excellent opportunity to promote interaction between our three schools,” said Maren Kepler, Vagina Monologues director and a Hopkins nursing student in the class of 2009. “I am really amazed by the level of dedication these busy and ambitious women have shown to oppose violence against women. It has really been an honor and a wonderful experience to continue the V-Day tradition both globally and in its third year at Hopkins.”
The Johns Hopkins University V-Day 2009 Campaign consists of the following events:
In Her Shoes
An interactive workshop simulating the roles of a victim of domestic violence and her abuser with facilitator Ellyn Loy from House of Ruth, Maryland. Lunch will be served.
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
12:15 p.m.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore
The Vagina Monologues
Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28, 2009
8:00 p.m.
Turner Auditorium, Johns Hopkins Hospital
720 N. Rutland Avenue, Baltimore
Tickets: $10, available at the door or advance reservation by e-mail:
[email protected]
More info: Lisa Aslan [email protected]