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Sexual Assault Resource Agency holds annual award celebration

SARA holds sixth annual Annette DeGregoria Grimm award celebration

<p>The Sexual Assault Resource Agency, a Charlottesville based nonprofit, offers support and counseling to survivors of sexual assault.</p>

The Sexual Assault Resource Agency, a Charlottesville based nonprofit, offers support and counseling to survivors of sexual assault.

The Sexual Assault Resource Agency, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit which offers support to survivors of sexual assault, held its sixth annual Annette DeGregoria Grimm Award Celebration last Friday at the Darden School.

This year’s award went to Ron and Lorelei Pulliam of the Gallastar Equine Center in Afton. The center offers young sexual assault survivors a "therapeutic horseback riding camp," according to a SARA press release.

“The Gallastar Equine Center was chosen because of its work with girls who have been sexually abused,” SARA Executive Director Rebecca Weybright said. “SARA has partnered with Gallastar for many years and holds a horse camp where girls can heal and build confidence while working with horses and other animals.”

SARA provides services to more than 1,000 students and survivors each year, helping survivors and other affected by sexual violence.

The agency’s programs extend far into the Charlottesville community. SARA funds a number of community training and engagement programs in the city, as well as in greater Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa, Greene and Nelson counties, with the goal of increasing public awareness about sexual assault. For parents, teachers and mentors, the agency provides a number of resources meant to help create loving, caring environments for young people to grow up in.

Weybright said the agency’s programs have expanded recently.

“Our services for survivors have increased,” Weybright said. “We are also seeing more cases of complex sexual trauma whether there are multiple layers of concerns. Our prevention program has also grown substantially, and we are reaching many school-age children with our primary prevention curriculum.”

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