FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Dina Mendez

Amy R. Spurgeon

Dina Mendez didn’t need to be a victim of violence to realize that taking

action to bring about awareness on the topic is crucial.

The 22-year-old Anaheim Hills resident and OCC student is responsible for

bringing the Clothesline Project 2000 to her campus for the first time.

The project is a visual display of decorated T-shirts that bear witness

to the violence against women and children. T-shirts have been on display

since March 29 in the Student Center.

The shirts range in color to signify different types of violence: yellow

or beige for victims who have been battered, white for those who have

died as a result of violence; red, pink or orange for rape or sexual

assault victims; blue or green for victims of incest or child sexual

abuse; and purple or lavender for those who have been violently attacked

because of their sexual orientation.

The nationwide program started 10 years ago when a group of women

inspired by the AIDS quilt decided to take the statistics of violence

against women and turn them into an “in-your-face” educational tool.

Mendez, a volunteer with the county’s Sexual Assault Victims Services,

decided to bring the project to OCC after seeing it at UC Irvine.

“My heart goes out to people of abuse,” Mendez said. “I just wanted to do

something for them and the community.”

All week, Mendez has spent countless hours in OCC’s student lounge,

helping victims decorate. Participants were provided with paints,

T-shirts and a quiet, private place to work.

By midweek, 50 T-shirts had been designed.

One shirt read: “He touched me. I pretended I was sleeping. I didn’t know

what was going on. Now I know my uncle was wrong.”

“No more tears sis, Love Bro,” read another.

“This is so important to me,” Mendez said. “Just letting people know that

there are people out there who care and are trying to bring an end to the

violence.”

Amanda Combs is one of Mendez’s supervisors at Sexual Assault Victim

Services. She praises Mendez’s work and is grateful for her.

“Dina works on a 28-hour day,” Combs said. “She would never toot her own

horn, but she has been such an asset. She took the Clothesline Project

and ran with it.”

Mendez said she one day hopes to work as a professional in the field of

violence prevention. In the meantime, she looks forward toward graduating

and then transferring to a four-year university.

A candlelight vigil honoring survivors of violence, from 7 to 10 p.m.

today, will culminate the project. The procession starts in the Student

Lounge and will end in the quad area. It is free and open to the public.

The evening will include survivor testimonies, music and a reception.

“It is a ceremony symbolizing people who have survived violence,” Mendez

said. “It is honoring those people who have survived and are still

surviving. It is a way to say ‘I did it and I’ll continue to do it.’ ”

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