The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center’s Walk for Change is set to return to Cambridge, where the fundraising and sexual assault awareness event started 20 years ago.
The center, known as BARCC, hosted the walks at CambridgeSide Galleria from 2006 to 2013, and then at Constitution Beach in East Boston until last year, other than two virtual walks during the pandemic. Participants will once again gather at CambridgeSide April 26 to begin the two-mile walk.
When Kara Blue, BARCC senior director of external relations, asked her colleagues where the 20th walk should take place, there was “such a clear consensus” stemming from good memories of the previous walks at CambridgeSide and a desire to bring the walk to the crisis center’s home base in Cambridge, she said.
“It’s a big year. It’s a big celebration,” Blue added. “Come be with people who understand this issue [and] support survivors … because we think people really need it probably more than ever right now.”
At 10 a.m., the event will kick off at Lechmere Canal Park, where participants will walk along the Charles River and cross the Longfellow Bridge, then loop back to the park.
Although the “issue of sexual violence is heavy,” the event is family-friendly, Blue said. Leashed dogs are welcome.
After crossing the finish line, walkers can enjoy athletic events hosted by Knucklebones and catering by Everybody Gotta Eat, and view the Clothesline Project, a display of T-shirts survivors use to speak out about their experience with sexual or domestic abuse. BARCC also hopes to host face painting and a youth circus group, Blue said.
“This event is, number one, about honoring survivors,” Blue said. “And second, … celebrating the great work that BARCC does.”
BARCC provides free mental health and legal support to sexual assault survivors in 29 Greater Boston communities, as well as trainings on forensics, and workshops led by survivors about how sexual violence impacted their lives.
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