SOUTH BERWICK — Finding Our Voices papered South Berwick with posters featuring the faces and voices of Maine domestic abuse survivors on April 3 to commemorate “one of our sisters who didn’t make it,” according to the nonprofit’s CEO and Founder Patrisha McLean.
Sherri Sweet, 37, was shot on March 23 in her home in South Berwick. Her boyfriend has been charged with the murder.
“Attention must be paid to the femicide in Maine,” McLean said, “and a woman who friends describe as having a smile that lights up the world now dead, and leaving behind a baby and four-year-old boy.”
McLean said her group’s posters now in a dozen business and civic windows, bathrooms and bulletin boards in South Berwick will bring hope and help with the central message of “You CAN get out, and we are here to help you do that.” The posters feature a QR code that links to the website of the grassroots, survivor-powered nonprofit providing support and resources to women domestic abuse victims/survivors across Maine.
McLean said that at one of their downtown stops a store manager related how South Berwick used to be a town where you never had to lock your doors. “I pointed out that with domestic violence, when you lock your door you are locking in the person who poses the most danger to you and your children.”
The Finding Our Voices poster campaign celebrated its five-year anniversary in March, in that time touring to more than 100 Maine towns. Fifty survivors aged 18 to 85 and including Governor Mills are featured on three sizes of the posters, along with a quote referencing an aspect of abuse that the women transcended. McLean said in South Berwick, as in every town they visit, about two-thirds of the women they conversed with revealed that they too had been in a harrowing domestic violence situation.
McLean said the South Berwick posters have already accomplished their goal in the four days since they were put on display at the public library, town office, and in downtown businesses, with four local survivors reaching out and receiving meaningful assistance from the Finding Our Voices. In addition, she said, the first $1,000 raised from an art sale in Bath for Finding Our Voices over Mother’s Day weekend will go to a fund for Sherri’s now motherless children.
Finding Our Voices empowers Maine women victims/survivors of domestic abuse by breaking down stigma, and providing peer support and meaningful resources. Programs include financial assistance, access to free dental care, and online support groups. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net/.
