The Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio (SARNCO) is the local sexual assault intervention and prevention program. SARNCO works with local law enforcement and social services agencies to provide medical and social support services to victims of sexual assault. Services include evaluation and treatment in local emergency departments, emotional support from volunteer advocates, a 24-hour rape helpline, referrals to aftercare counseling and community outreach and prevention education.

24-hour rape Helpline number
   (614) 267-7020.

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN)
    1-(800) 656-HOPE (toll free)

Our mission

Programs and services

Education and prevention

How to contact SARNCO

How to volunteer with SARNCO

What to do if you've been sexually assaulted

10 ways you can stop sexual violence in your community

Make a charitable gift to SARNCO

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SARNCO programs and services

• 24-Hour Emergency Room Advocacy - Trained staff and volunteer advocates provide support, crisis intervention and referral information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to survivors of sexual violence who are receiving care in local emergency departments. SARNCO also works with Deaf Women Against Violence Everywhere (DWAVE) to provide advocacy to deaf survivors who are receiving care in hospital emergency departments.
• 24-Hour Rape Helpline - Trained staff and volunteers provide support, crisis intervention and referral information over the telephone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to survivors of sexual violence, co-survivors and the community.
• SARNCO-Ohio State Campus Advocacy - SARNCO works with the Rape Education and Prevention Program at The Ohio State University to provide emotional support, crisis intervention and referral information to student survivors.
• Rape Education and Prevention Program - SARNCO provides free prevention education about sexual assault, acquaintance rape, relationship violence and sexual harassment to student and community groups. See below for a list of our education programs.
• Community Outreach Program - SARNCO provides long-term individual advocacy to survivors, coordinates awareness-raising efforts in central Ohio and maintains a Resource Lending Library. The SARNCO Lending Library has over six hundred books, journals, videos and resource materials on sexual assault and intimate partner violence that are available for survivors, co-survivors and members of the community. Books about recovery from sexual violence are available at no cost to survivors and co-survivors of sexual assault. To obtain copies, call the SARNCO 24-hour Rape Helpline at (614) 267-7020.

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Call the SARNCO Rape Education and Prevention Coordinator at (614) 566-5227 to inquire about or schedule a program.

How to contact SARNCO

How to volunteer with SARNCO
SARNCO is looking for caring and compassionate volunteers who:

• are good listeners
• want to truly make a difference
• care about ending interpersonal violence and oppression

As a SARNCO Volunteer Advocate, you will provide survivors with the options and emotional support they need to heal. And, you will play a vital role in helping to prevent rape in our community.

SARNCO volunteer opportunities include:

• Hospital Advocate: Provides face-to-face emotional support, options and information to survivors while they are receiving care in a hospital emergency department.
• SARNCO-DWAVE Hospital Advocate: Provides hospital advocacy to survivors who are deaf.
• SARNCO-Ohio State Campus Advocate: Provides face-to-face emotional support, options and information to survivors who are students at The Ohio State University, at the time they report the incident.
• 24-hour Rape Helpline Advocate: Provides comfort, support, options and answers over the phone to those who have been sexually assaulted.
• Rape Education Advocate: Gives presentations to students and community groups on vitally-important rape education and prevention topics.
• Outreach Advocate: Provides information about sexual assault and resources available to the community at health fairs and other events and works to strengthen collaborative partnerships with various populations in the community.

SARNCO provides extensive training sessions for those interested in volunteering. These sessions are held twice per year. If you would like to learn more about volunteering, please complete the attached application and send it to SARNCO or call us at (614) 566-5847.

*Access a SARNCO volunteer application in PDF format. (You need Acrobat Reader to view it.)

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What to do if you've been sexually assaulted

• Get to a safe place.
• Call 9-1-1, a friend, a relative or someone else who can help.
• Call the SARNCO 24-hour Rape Helpline at (614) 267-7020 or the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) at 1-800-656-HOPE.
• Seek medical attention. SARNCO's trained volunteer advocates, who specialize in supporting sexual assault survivors, are available at local hospital emergency departments and on the OSU campus. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, who specialize in collecting evidence, are also available at some local hospitals.
• For the best evidence collection results:
  DO NOT shower, bathe, douche, brush your teeth, urinate, defecate, smoke or change clothes before going to the hospital. If you must change your clothes, bring the clothes you were wearing at the time of the assault with you in a paper bag.
• Consider telling a friend or family member whom you trust.
• Give yourself time to heal. You are a survivor and what happened to you is not your fault.

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10 ways you can stop sexual violence in your community

1. Acknowledge that all people are vulnerable to rape including men, women and children.
2. Educate yourself about sexual violence and challenge the perception that it is inevitable and acceptable.
3. Resist and confront rape culture in our society such as gender role stereotyping, victim blame, glamorized and sexualized images of violence against women and the media that reinforces these elements.
4. Respect your partner and the boundaries she or he sets.
5. Unconditionally recognize and value women as human beings.
6. Hold perpetrators of sexual violence accountable for their actions; do not expect women to prevent rape.
7. Be supportive of a friend who has been raped by believing her or him and by listening without blaming or judging.
8. Volunteer at SARNCO.
9. Support organizations that work to end sexual violence with your charitable gifts.
10. Invite a SARNCO educator to speak to your class, workplace, church or community organization.

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How to support SARNCO
Your gift to the OhioHealth Foundation to support the programs and services provided by SARNCO helps in so many ways to ensure our rape intervention programs continue to fill a vital role in our community. Your gift to SARNCO can provide:

• The Survivor Emergency Fund which pays for emergency needs such as shelter (hotels), rent, lock changes and more
• New sweatshirts, sweatpants and underwear for survivors whose clothing is taken for evidence
• Printing of educational and outreach materials and purchase of updated items for our Resource Center
• Recognition programs for our dedicated volunteers
• Purchase of books that are given free to survivors, including Recovering from Rape and When Men Are Raped
• The in-kind match money that, coupled with our grant funding, pays most of our staff salaries.

Your gifts are used to fund programs that directly assist rape survivors in central Ohio.

Make a charitable gift to SARNCO.
Learn more or make your gift now. You may also e-mail the OhioHealth Foundation or call (614) 566-4483.

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