NEWBERRY, S.C. — On the south lawn of Holland Hall at Newberry College teal flags dot the lawn, an effort to raise awareness of sexual assault.
"There are 106 flags out because there is a sexual assault in the nation every 68 seconds, and 106 is the amount that will happen in the 2 hours we are out here for," says psychology sexual assault prevention intern Abby Beddingfield.
Beddingfield is working with Dr. Carrie Caullie an assistant professor of psychology at Newberry College to educate and bring awareness to resources available in the community.
"It's a very prime opportunity and a risk period for people to be sexually assaulted at college and sexual assault can be prevented it takes knowledge and understanding of what consent is, what you're comfortable with and communicating, what a no is, and for people to be able to recognize when they are getting those signals," says Dr. Caullie.
One local non-profit Pathways To Healing has decided to help Newberry College through the month raise awareness.
Director Rebecca Lorick with Pathways to Healing says last year alone they helped hundreds of people, "During 2022, we served 2,054 survivors and provided almost 15,000 services for them that's any type of supportive services whether it was a hotline call, or following up after an assault or doing individual counseling."
For those in need of resources Pathways of Healing provides free resources for Richland, Lexington, Newberry, Clarendon, and Sumter counties.
They also have a 24/7 hotline the number is 803-771-7273.