Spruce Run Announces the Paint Penobscot County Purple Campaign!

This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we hope you will get involved. We know that you are invested in making Penobscot County a safe place to live and work. We know you support Spruce Run and the work we do to change attitudes, save lives, and end abuse.

What we’re asking you to do this October is to show it—in whatever way you are excited to do!

This year we are launching the Paint Penobscot County Purple Campaign. We want to cover this county in purple—the color for domestic violence awareness.  What do we need you to do? Pitch in however you can. During the week of October 12-18, in whatever way makes sense to you, paint your own corner of the county purple.

Some ideas:

• Highlight your purple merchandise. Whether that means displaying amethyst jewelry, dressing your mannequins in shades of violet, or cooking up special purple desserts at your bakery, make a bold statement! When people comment on how great it looks, you can tell them that you are raising awareness about domestic abuse and celebrating the survivors around you. 
• Buy a purple light bulb for $3 and bathe the outside of your home or workplace in a lavender glow.  We will sell these light bulbs at our Bangor (945-5102), Lincoln (403-1390), and Millinocket (723-4400) offices.  Please call first to check our office hours; we want to be sure someone is there to help you!
• Have a Dress Purple Day at work and encourage employees to participate.  You could even have a Dress Down Purple Day and collect donations for the privilege of dressing down… and then send those donations to Spruce Run.
• Tie purple ribbons around your mailbox, or around a light pole or tree. Try to get everyone on your street or block to do it, too, and say “no” to abuse as a neighborhood!
• Decorate a prominent bulletin board in purple, and let people know you are doing it to support healthy relationships and to end domestic violence. Go to our materials page to request free Spruce Run posters and brochures.
• Incorporate purple into your workplace’s Weekly Special. Maybe you could include Spruce Run’s hotline number.
• Hang a purple ribbon from your car’s antenna, or get a purple ribbon magnet to display on your tailgate.
• Work with a group of children to make a purple banner, then hang it for your community to see. Check out the picture of our Hands are Not for Hurting Banner for just one idea about what yours could look like.
• Decorate your desk, cubicle, office, register, window, classroom, or any other place you have creative control over… and talk to people about why you did it!
• Sport a purple ribbon, and give them to friends, family members, and coworkers to wear too.
• Encourage your school to recognize Paint Penobscot County Purple week with a dress purple day, a purple bake sale, purple locker signs, or announcing it at a sporting event!
• Take in a purple treat to your child’s daycare or school classroom and explain that you are bringing it in celebration of healthy families.
• Ask your faith community to participate, and decorate your place of worship inside and out.  You could donate a bouquet of purple flowers for the altar, and print in your bulletin that you are honoring survivors of abuse.

These are just some suggestions. The options for participating are endless, and we encourage you to be original and to do what works best for you. To assist you in your decorating, we’ve provided a purple ribbon–feel free to print it and use it!–and a poster that explains the significance of your purple displays.

When you decide on what you’d like to do, contact us. We want to recognize you–our community partners–for putting your creativity and energy into showing support for healthy communities. Send us an email at sprucerun@sprucerun.net explaining your contribution so we can post it here, on our website.  Make sure you include a digital photo if you’d like everyone to see how creative you’ve been! 

We also want to send you a “Proud Supporter of Spruce Run” window cling, so be sure to include a mailing address where we can reach you.  We would also love to send along some of our newly redesigned materials for you to display and distribute.  We have posters, brochures and “wooden nickels” with our hotline number on them.  Just let us know if you’d like us to send you some free materials.

Thanks for helping us Paint Penobscot County Purple.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call 945-5102, and ask for Kati or Regina.  

Working together we can change attitudes, save lives and end abuse.

Posted in Spruce Run news