06/12/05 — Lighthouse to hold poetry reading

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Lighthouse to hold poetry reading

By Becky Barclay
Published in News on June 12, 2005 2:00 AM

The Lighthouse of Wayne County is holding a poetry reading fund-raiser July 23.

"Voices of Survival II" will be held at Poetic Shangri-La, 116 E. Walnut St. from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. There will be a short intermission at 7:15 p.m. Staff from the Lighthouse, the county's battered women's shelter, will be on hand from 9:30 to 10 p.m. to answer questions and give information about the organization.

The fund-raiser is sponsored by Steele Sharpens Steele Productions.

People are encouraged to show their support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault by writing and reading their poetry or just going and listening to others read their poetry. There will also be poetry from actual survivors.

Tickets are $5 each in advance and may be purchased by calling the Lighthouse at 736-1313 or C.K. Goodman at 580-9286 or $7 at the door.

Proceeds from the event will assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Last year's event raised about $600, according to Cheri Seronick, Lighthouse co-director. "It was pretty impressive last year," she said.

She said the fund-raiser may benefit more than just the domestic violence victims. "Everybody goes through something in their life that's very painful. A lot more of us are victims of abuse than we realize sometimes, whether it's parental, a boyfriend or girlfriend or someone else.

"This is about being positive and taking something that may have initially been a negative thing and trying to make it a positive thing to heal that pain, even if it was from 20, 30 or 40 years ago. And the Lighthouse is all about overcoming and surviving."