‘Walk in My Shoes’ to come through Ocala on Thursday

The Walk in My Shoes trek will come through Ocala on April 16 and will end in Tallahassee on May 1. [Submitted photo]

In honor of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month and National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Lauren’s Kids has embarked on its 11th annual Walk in My Shoes 1,500-mile trek across Florida and also has launched a new survivor oral history storytelling initiative, The Voices Project.

The walk started on March 31 in Key West and will end May 1 near the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. The walk will pass through The Villages on Wednesday and through Ocala on Thursday.

The walk in Ocala will begin at the Publix Supermarket at Grand Oaks Town Center at 2575 SW 42^nd St. Attendees can participate in the 4-mile walk to the Marion County Sexual Assault Center Inc. at 1121 SW 1^st Ave., with the opportunity to stop or continue walking the full route to Kimberly’s Center for Child Protection at 2800 NE 14^th St. At any point, participants can receive an UBER code to cover the cost of a ride back to the starting location. 

Lauren’s Kids founder/CEO and former Florida State Senator Lauren Book is leading the month-long journey, walking up to 25 miles each day. The annual trek brings together advocates and survivors from Florida’s child advocacy centers and sexual assault treatment programs, as well as schools and educators who teach Lauren’s Kids’ Safer, Smarter Kids abuse prevention curriculum program, law enforcement, sex crimes prosecutors, community and elected leaders, and families to raise awareness and promote prevention of child sexual abuse, the news release noted.

“For 11 years, we have walked across Florida to shine a light on child sexual abuse and to remind survivors they are not alone,” Book said in the release. “This year, we are expanding that mission by creating space for survivors to share their stories in their own voices.”

Lauren’s Kids is launching The Voices Project, an oral storytelling initiative designed to amplify and preserve the voices of survivors, in their own words. Throughout April, a mobile recording unit will travel with the walk to capture anonymous audio recordings from survivors before daily walks. Those who wish to participate in-person can sign up at laurenskidswalk.org 

To expand the reach of the project, survivors also are invited to submit audio recordings of up to five minutes by emailing [email protected]. Recordings will become part of a digital archive focused on awareness, education and survivor empowerment.