At 10 a.m. Saturday, people from all over Utah County — including Provo firefighters, Provo Mayor John Curtis and Orem Mayor Richard Brunst — will don women’s shoes to walk a mile at The Shops at Riverwoods in Provo.
The event is a fundraiser for The Center for Women and Children in Crisis, an organization that helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Utah, Juab and Wasatch counties. Proceeds from the event will go to prevention efforts, said Rachelle Peterson, who does prevention education for the center. Specifically, money raised will help the center expand its reach in educating the community about healthy relationships as well as fund future awareness events.
“We’re really excited to raise awareness on how to stop sexual assault, rape and violence,” she said. … “We’d really love to see the whole community come and support this event.”
Participants need to bring their own shoes — heels are encouraged but any women’s shoes will do — to walk the course, Peterson said. Or they can buy a pair of red high heels from walkamileinhershoes.org. Along the way, people will see information about sexual assault, violence and healthy relationships. “The idea is to come and have an experiential walk.”
There will be prizes given to the fastest walker, person in highest heels, most enthusiastic walker and best dressed.
The event will be family-friendly. There will be a scavenger hunt and carnival games for kids, live music and a silent auction featuring items like Disneyland tickets, tickets for Southwest Airlines, yoga classes and passes to Thanksgiving Point. Though walkers have to register and pay (early registration is $10 per person or $25 for a family of four people 12 and older), the auction and non-walk parts of the event are open to everyone.
Walk a Mile In Her Shoes is an international organization and there are fundraiser walks held around the world. Most of these walks are specifically for men wearing heels, but Peterson said the center wanted to open its event to the whole community. For more information or to register, go to cwcic.org or email Rachelle Peterson at rpeterson@cwcic.org.