10.3.09

Jana Mackey-Kansas - Women's' activist honored

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www.1100Torches.org

DEDICATED TO JANA MACKEY-stop the violence- WE CAN DO THIS!!

National women's awareness day

click for video

http://www.ksnt.com/news/local/story/Womens-activist-honored/BuEUccEgUEKNowYOZM7JPQ.cspx

 

(Mari Fagel)

(Mari Fagel)

It's a familiar picture, but if you take a closer look, you'll see Rosie has been replaced by Jana.

“It just symbolizes so much of what Jana believed in.”

The woman who inspired these t-shirts was Jana Mackey, a young lobbyist who worked tirelessly to give victims of domestic violence a voice.

”I saw her in the capital early in the morning, late at night. She cared deeply about women's issues,” Marci Nielsen, who worked with Mackey, said.

But last summer, she fell victim to the very cause she fought against. In July, the 25-year-old K-U law student was murdered by an ex-boyfriend.

“We know we can't bring Jana back but we know that we encourage others to carry her work forward,” Mackey’s father, Curt Brungardt, said.

And now people across the state are picking up where she left off.

“We've asked people to remember her by volunteering.”

Governor Sebelius signed a proclamation recognizing March 8th as Jana Mackey Day in Kansas. She called on Kansans to set aside time on Sunday to volunteer in their community.

”If she played some role in making this place a better world, I think that's all we can ask for,” Brungardt said.

Mackey's friends and family gathered at the United Way Center in Lawrence to volunteer. They wrote letters to government officials and put together ribbons supporting victims of domestic violence. This event was just one of many across the state.

”Some day we will join Jana again and our hope is that she will look at us and say thank you for rolling the ball a little further down the block,” Brungardt said.

With this proclamation, thousands of Kansans have pledged to continue to keep that ball rolling.

Reporter and Video: Mari Fagel

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