Anyone walking past the Doudna Steps Friday morning and afternoon can learn more about sexual assault awareness and the Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service (SACIS) at the organization’s informational tabling.

The event is called SACIS on the Steps and Stephanie Anderson, volunteer coordinator at SACIS, said it is a way to raise awareness for National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“This is the first year (we are) doing this; we wanted to do something different and new,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the table provides important resources for students and will be a way to get to know the members of the organization.

“We’re going to have all of our resource table stuff out, we’ve also got outdoor games; we’re just going to be outside and kind of draw people in with games,” Anderson said.

“We’ll have chalk for the steps and it’s just a place for people to hang out and meet us.”

The resource table will include up-to-date information and a volunteer signup sheet for students interested in helping out with SACIS.

Anderson said the information on the resource table is always changing, so this event will provide updates.

SACIS brainstormed ideas for National Sexual Assault Awareness Month at the beginning of the month and concluded that an outdoor activity was the way to go, Anderson said.

“We knew we wanted to do something outside, and what better place than by the steps,” Anderson said.

SACIS used to be located on campus and the organization still hosts training sessions and gets involved with Eastern.

“Our 40-hour trainings always take place on campus; a majority of people who go through our training are EIU students,” Anderson said.

SACIS on the Steps not only raises awareness of sexual assault; it also serves as a refreshing break from the organization’s usual events that are in honor of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Anderson said.

“Some of our events, like Walk a Mile and Take Back the Night, are all reoccurring events that we do every year. This is kind of a more fun way to promote who we are,” Anderson said.

SACIS Office Manager Samantha McCullough said she thinks the organization has a good variety of activities for people to get involved with.

“From the walk to the 5K to the concert, we got a nice variety of different fundraising events that keep people coming because it’s different,” McCullough said.

Taylor Diskin, the social justice and empowerment services coordinator, said every event is unique.

“All our events are so different in a sense and they all present different challenges and uniqueness to them, and you always get to look forward to something different with each event,” Diskin said.

Many of the supporters of SACIS are a nice mix of Eastern students and members of the Charleston community, Anderson said.

The unique qualities each event has, she said, is part of what brings in new faces.

“I think that’s what’s so great about the uniqueness of every event because it pulls in a different crowd, so you have some people who go to every 5K that they can think of so they’re going to come to our 5K, or you have some that might just hear of the walk in Morton Park and join us that day,” Anderson said.

SACIS will host its tabling from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday.

Katelyn Edgington can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].