Jamestown Community College on Wednesday hosted the “SUNY’s Got Your Back” event, aimed at assisting those who have gone through incidents of domestic violence. The SUNY system has been holding such events since 2016 that correspond with October, a month dedicated to domestic violence awareness. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

The State University of New York has the backs of its students, a message that was evident on Wednesday on the Jamestown campus.

Corresponding with the month of October that is designated for domestic violence awareness, the SUNY system has been holding “SUNY’S Got Your Back” events since 2016. An event organized to fill hundreds of bags with for domestic violence victims. Included in the bags are typically personal care items intended to help calm victims.

On Wednesday, the statewide event was brought to Jamestown Community College.

“The goal is to distribute (the bags) locally to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault,” said Kayla Crosby, JCC director of campus life. “So, if someone shows up to the Salvation Army Anew Center they would be given this bag because often they come in with nothing.”

As the campus life director, Crosby said that students over the years have disclosed to her stories of domestic violence and sexual assault.

For Crosby, supporting the Title IX law, a federal protection for students and employees against any form of sex discrimination, is “very important.”

“For me, it’s all about providing for our students,” she said, “making sure that they’re aware of the resources and giving them an opportunity to understand the significance of this and to be able to give back to the community as well.”

The bags, once filled by volunteers, students and SUNY employees, are made available for agencies who see victims of domestic violence. The goal in 2016 was to fill 2,016 bags. Since then, the event has grown across the state to a total 75,000 bags over the course of several years. Next year, the institution hopes to fill 100,000 bags filled that are later provided to victims.

A number of bags will be kept at JCC in the event that a student reports experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault.

Joelle Carroll, SUNY’s Got Your Back staff associate, said the team attempts to keep the bags built at a given college within the local area but noted that some are then distributed throughout the state. While providing assistance to victims, another goal of the event is to simply raise awareness.

“We just really want to go out there and basically raise awareness to all college campuses and students,” Carroll said. “No sort of sexual or interpersonal violence is OK. So, we just want to make sure and bring this event that is able to (raise awareness) for them.”

On Wednesday, JCC students, professors and administrators dressed in blue shirts that read “SUNY’S Got Your Back” filled up blue draw-string bags. The goal was to fill 500 bags within two hours. However, the volunteers met their mark within an hour.

Barry Swanson, JCC Title IX coordinator, noted that JCC works in collaboration with SUNY to address and monitor incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Swanson praised the efforts from volunteers made Wednesday.

“Our administration, faculty and staff have really just come together great to accomplish a goal of 500 bags in two hours,” Swanson said.

Community organizations who deal with survivors of such incidents were notified about the event and are able to request bags from SUNY. At the recent event were The Salvation Army Anew Center, The Resource Center, the Mental Health Association, the Child Advocacy Program and Project Crossroads.

“Our goal is to continue to host the event on our campus and build more bags,” Crosby said.