NASV gives out awards at 10th anniversary dinner

Before Saturday's 10th anniversary dinner at the Bavarian Halle in Fruitland, Tammy Gwaltney said only one thing mattered.

"That we did it well and with dignity and, always, with the victims' best interests at heart," said Gwaltney, executive director of Southeast Missouri's Network Against Sexual Violence.

On Saturday night, she acknowledged people who have done just that.

SEMO-NASV gave special advocacy awards to the Saint Francis Medical Center Foundation, which provided $25,000 in seed money and office space, and Southeast Missouri Hospital, which provides a physician to work with nurses and abuse victims.

Nurse practitioner Kathy Blevins reminded the gathering of NASV's true beginning, when she described the big, sad eyes of a 7-year-old boy when he asked her, "Do I have to tell another person?"

Today NASV provides training to police and other investigators as well as support for victims and their families. One speaker at Saturday night's dinner, a mother of two children who were assaulted by their father, said NASV and law enforcement officials had helped the children resume relatively normal lives.

"Your jobs are more than a paycheck, more than the praise," she said. "It's about the innocent who need your help."

She appealed to her audience to work for stronger punishment of child molesters, so they would see "no bail, no parole."

Catherine Hanaway, the evening's keynote speaker and a federal prosecutor for the eastern district of Missouri, called the woman heroic for speaking.

"Because of you, other women will have the courage to stand up," she said. Hanaway said that, though some feel the advent and growth of the Internet has increased the use of child pornography, she didn't agree.

"There's always been pedophiles," she said. "The Internet is just helping us to catch them."

She offered a Web site created to help parents and teachers learn how to help children stay safe: www.inobtr.org (an abbreviation of "I know better").

Sen. Jason Crowell and Gwaltney did more than exchange thanks. He presented NASV with a house resolution commemorating the organization for a decade of service. Before the night was out, he picked up NASV's first-ever Spirit of Service award, for his efforts in securing ongoing funding for the organization.

The band Restless Spirit provided music between speakers.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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