Stage Coach Players And Safe Passage Join Together Helping To Create A Better Path Forward

Joining together with Safe Passage during the months of January and February, Stage Coach Players (SCP) continued its goal of community outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic.  They gathered dozens of bags worth of toiletries, personal care items, diapers, and new clothing for DeKalb County’s only Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Crisis Center.

Jan Kuntz, one of the co-chairs of SCP’s Community Outreach committee along with Gloria Dennison and Angela Schiola-Niemeyer, said that they wanted to start including community outreach groups to the food drives they perform.   They started with Safe Passage.  “We were excited and so encouraged about the donations that came in for the Salvation Army, Toys For Tots, and the Family Service Agency during the holiday season, we decided we had to include this type of community outreach to our weekly food drives,” she stated.

With the amount donated through February, it is apparent DeKalb County residents are still extremely generous a year into the pandemic.  Kendal Harvell, Marketing & Communication Specialist for Safe Passage said that donations are incredibly helpful to the survivors her agency serves.  She added, “When community members or community organizations come together to organize donation drives, it helps us supply our clients with items that our grants don’t always cover.”

In the age of COVID-19, donations really matter.  The rates of domestic violence have skyrocketed, Harvell offered.  “In most cases, victims were isolated from everyone but their abuser when the stay-at-home order went into place.  For some survivors, going to work or going to school was their only safe haven.”

SCP President, Angela Schiola-Niemeyer said, “Doing this type of service for our community makes my heart happy.”  She went on to say, “It’s exactly what a community theatre should be doing, and I’m grateful that SCP has found a way to give back to the community that supports us.”

SCP will continue to “Join Together” with other community outreach groups in DeKalb County, and as they wait in the wings collecting food for and household items for local food banks.  To learn more about SCP, visit our Facebook page or go to our website, www.stagecoachplayers.com.  To donate to Safe Passage directly, go to www.safepassagedv.org/ways-to-give.