CAC | Gordon Gazette

Child Advocacy Center launches 2022 t-shirt fundraiser; will offer 4 themed shirts this year

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Gordon County Child Advocacy Center (GCCAC) has launched its T-shirt fundraiser for 2022 and invites the community to get involved. Funds raised will go to benefit the program and Gordon County victims.

Stacie Higdon, Forensic Interviewer and Outreach Coordinator created the shirt designs.

“We think it is a great way to get the community involved and fundraise at the same time,” said Higdon.

The GCCAC will host four themed t shirts this year. For February, there is “Heart of the Matter.” This shirt represents child victims, who are at the heart of what the GCCCA does. It launched on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022.

You can find the link on GCCAC’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GordonCountyCAC. So far, more than 50 shirts have been sold. The public is invited to order a shirt and then post a picture and tag the Gordon County Child Advocacy Center with #heartofthematter.

For spring 2022, there will be “Growing Hope.” This shirt represents growing hope for every child in Gordon County. This shirt will launch at the onset of spring.

Summer’s shirt will be entitled “Peace and Protection.” This shirt will go along with the GCCAC's annual summer camp for teen sexual abuse victims. The GCCAC's hope is that each victim finds inner peace and protection from their abuse.

And finally for fall 2022, there will be a shirt entitled “You Matter,” representing the GCCAC's goal for every child to have a voice.

Everyone is invited to collect all 4 shirts. The prices will range between $25 and $35 depending on the type of shirt.

The Gordon County Child Advocacy Center was established in 2014 to combat child sexual abuse, physical abuse and sexual assault by the coordination, education and provision of services to alleged victims and their non-offending caregivers. The center offers forensic interviews; advocacy services which include crisis intervention, individual support and referrals to counseling services; and therapy services for children ages 3 to 18.

New Adult Survivor Support Group to offer resources to those who have suffered a sexual assault

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Adult victims of sexual assault now have a resource locally to help them deal with the trauma they have faced.

The Hope Rising Survivor Support Group was recently formed by Cindy Gregg of the Gordon County Child Advocacy Center. The group will hold monthly meetings and offer resources, education and support for those adult victims of sexual assault.

“The Gordon County Child Advocacy Center has been working for the past eight months to add services to adult victims of sexual assault,” said Gregg. “We currently have the capability to provide forensic medical exams, advocacy and therapy to adults as well. Very soon, we hope to launch a hotline for victims to call 24/7 to receive support and services.”

Gregg said that unlike children, adults do not have to report sexual assault to law enforcement if they do not want to and a lot of times, those assaults go, not only overlooked but also receives lack of support treatment.

“Out of every 100 rapes, it is estimated only 32 get reported to law enforcement,” said Gregg. “We want [adults] to know that there are services available regardless of whether they make a report to law enforcement or not. We hope to offer support and services for them so they can make sense of what has happened and to let them know that they are not alone."

According to Gregg, the group will meet monthly and will be psychoeducational in nature.

“We hope to offer some education about trauma and its effects on the body as well as resources a victim can use to heal,” said Gregg.

According to statistics from Innovating Criminal Justice - Empowering Victims, in the United States, about 1 in 3 women and nearly 1 in 6 men experienced some form of contact sexual violence during their lifetime; and nearly 23 million women and 1.7 million men have been the victims of completed or attempted rape at some point in their life. More than 27% of women and 11% of men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime and experienced intimate-partner violence related impact.

The new support group is available for anyone 18 years of age or older. Anyone wishing to join the group can call 706-602-2184 to connect with services and receive more information.

The Gordon County Child Advocacy Center was established in 2014 to combat child sexual abuse, physical abuse and sexual assault by the coordination, education and provision of services to alleged victims and their non-offending caregivers. The center offers forensic interviews; advocacy services which include crisis intervention, individual support and referrals to counseling services; and therapy services for children ages 3 to 18.

Gordon CAC asks public to 'Go With The Flo' to help with purchase of equipment

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

The Gordon County Child Advocacy Center is asking the public to ‘Go With The Flo’ and donate to their fundraiser to purchase a special piece of equipment that will be used in forensic medical exams, ensuring that the CAC is providing the best service to the victims they serve. The fundraiser is being held through Sept. 15.

The Gordon County Child Advocacy Center was established in 2014 to combat child sexual abuse, physical abuse and sexual assault by the coordination, education and provision of services to alleged victims and their non-offending caregivers. The center offers forensic interviews; advocacy services which include crisis intervention, individual support and referrals to counseling services; and therapy services for children ages 3 to 18 and will soon offer forensic medical evaluations in partnership with local medical providers.

The piece of equipment the CAC is looking to purchase is a CortexFlo, used during the forensic medical exams, which uses a mains powered high-quality SLR camera and LED light ring to take high definition photographs.

The camera is mounted on a counterbalanced, height adjustable swing arm which is easy to precisely position. Examinations can be recorded in HD 1080P video, which can be played back, moved frame by frame, cropped and an unlimited number of still images can be extracted. Cortexflo introduced the voice control function, which is a significant innovation, allowing an examiner to use both their hands during an examination. All the touch screen controls can be operated via voice commands. The foot pedal allows the examiner to freely use both hands during an examination. It will either start/stop video recording or take a photograph. The Cortexflo software can be configured to allow the examiner to continuously take pictures via the foot pedal operation.

Gordon County CAC, which recently celebrated a move to their new facility at 189 Professional Court, would utilize the CortexFlo during the forensic medical exams. The cost of the machine is $21,580.

Anyone wishing to donate can do so check, cash, or PAYPAL by searching @gordoncac