Frederick woman brings back Clothesline Project to bring awareness to domestic violence

FREDERICK, Md. ( DC News Now ) — According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in four women and one in seven men are victims of domestic violence.

Because of this, one woman has made it her mission to spread awareness through a project that she started at Hood College.

“The Clothesline Project started in 1990 with a group of about 30 women who were tired of feeling that they had to constantly hide their stories of abuse, child sexual abuse, rape, sexual assault and domestic violence,” Heatherly Hodgins, the woman behind the project’s revival, said.

Hodgins was a student at Hood College when she started volunteering with the Heartly House in Frederick, a center that provides resources for survivors of domestic violence. It wasn’t until then that she thought of bringing the clothesline project to Hood College.

“As I worked at Heartly House, I was answering the hotline so I was answering calls from survivors and was like this is happening right now and it’s happening all the time,” Hodgins said. “We need to do something to bring awareness to the issue and so I started the clothesline project at Hood College.”

After Hodgins graduated, the project had not continued. But now, 25 years later, she returned to Hood College to bring it back by hanging motivational white t-shirts in hopes that it would let survivors know they aren’t alone.

“I want people to be aware that there’s help available and I want people not to be ashamed to seek out that help, and not to be ashamed to say that this happened to them,” Hodgins said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.