The Leadership Jackson Alumni Association will present Darkness to Light: Stewards of Children “An Evening with Marilyn Van Derbur” to educate West Tennesseans on the prevention of child sexual abuse on Thursday, September 28. Marilyn, a former Miss America who went on to become a national broadcaster and best-selling author, is also an incest survivor.

Guests will listen as Marilyn shares her story to empower others to help prevent child abuse. The event will be held at Union University’s Carl Grant Events Center at 6:00 p.m. A buffet dinner will be offered to attendees at no charge thanks to generous sponsors. Registration for the event is now full.

“Education about this issue is so important for our children and youth and others in the community who work with children or train others to serve in that capacity,” said Dr. Beverly Absher, President of the LJAA Board.

Marilyn will also be signing her book, Miss America By Day: Lessons Learned from Ultimate Betrayals and Unconditional Love (accessible at the event) and will be available for photographs following the event.

Sponsors of the event include Leaders Credit Union, Creative Dining Services, Golden Circle Exterminators, Doug Hale Electric, Miss Tennessee Organization, Kelley Cash, Exchange Club, West Tennessee Healthcare, Leadership Jackson Alumni Association, and Union University.

Darkness to Light is a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce the incidence of child sexual abuse by shifting the responsibility from children to adults. This is accomplished by ensuring that adults across the country are provided with the tools they need to effectively identify and react to child sexual abuse. This seminar has been approved for licensing or continuing education credit by a number of agencies and professional organizations, and participants will receive a certificate of completion to be used for this purpose.

Stewards of Children is a revolutionary training program developed by the Darkness to Light organization (darkness2light.org) that educates adults to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse, and motivates them to courageous action. The cornerstone of this program is an interactive video and workbook which will be provided during the workshop.

“Leadership Jackson got involved with Darkness to Light through a partnership with the Carl Perkins Board, and we are excited to present this educational opportunity in our area,” said Absher.

Leadership Jackson was started by the Chamber in 1979. Through the fundamentals of the program and the ongoing Alumni efforts, Leadership Jackson works to help aspiring leaders become better employees, managers and community leaders. To learn more, visit leadershipjackson.com.