Submitted photo Carol Brennan of New Ulm (front, right) and her sisters received the AWARE award last Thursday from the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA). In front, from left, are Jean Lang of Glenwood, Clarice Platz of Springfield and Brennan. In back, from left, are Joleen Amberg of Redwood Falls, Mary Schmit of Randolph, Wis., Wanita Nosbush of Park Rapids, Laura Bast of Springfield and Michelle (Miki) Schultz of Morgan.

NEW ULM — Carol Brennan remembers when she and her seven sisters learned each other’s terrible secret. They were at a family baby shower in January 2013, a few months after the death of their father. The will was going through probate, waiting for signatures from their brothers.

“One of younger sisters came in and said, ‘Well, we’ve been raped for the last time. They’re never going to do that to us again,'” Brennan said.

That was the first time that the sisters realized that six of the eight had been sexually abused as children, growing up on the farm near Springfield. None of them had told the others, or realized it was happening to their sisters too.

When the sisters had a chance to get together and talk a month later, “It was just amazing to us that so many things had happened throughout our childhood that no one shared. It was to be kept a secret, you were threatened. There was this empowerment that they felt they could impose on us, and it wasn’t just one person.

“It is especially hurtful and frightening when it’s someone you should be able to love and trust. These are people within your family who should never think to do the things that they did.”

As the sisters shared their stories with each other, they realized that they had to be together on this. And they have been united in their search for healing, and in their advocacy to let people who have suffered sex abuse know that they must tell someone, that what is happening to them is wrong and that they are victims.

Last Thursday the sisters, dubbed “The Amazing Eight” by their advocate, received the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s (MNCASA) AWARE award. The event took place at the Best Western Capitol Ridge in St. Paul which is where the MNCASA headquarters are located.

MNCASA has been holding “AWARE,” an event to support survivors and raise awareness to end sexual violence, since 2007. The AWARE award is given to both individuals and groups and recognizes the way in which awardees courageously responded to sexual abuse and assault and how they transformed their personal adversity into prevention.

In addition to Brennan of New Ulm, the sisters include Laura Lee Bast and Clarice Platz of Springfield, Joleen Amberg of Redwood Falls, Wanita Nosbush of Park Rapids, Jean Lange of Glenwood, Miki Schultz of Morgan and Mary Schmit of Randolph, Wis.

Even though the abuse happened decades ago, the sisters had not found true peace or healing. Brennan said she still remembers what happened to her when she was very young, six decades ago. One of her sisters had repressed the memories and went through the pain of recalling them.

Some of the sisters contacted a law firm in Minneapolis which specializes in these kinds of cases.

“They were wonderful,” said Brennan. “The first thing they asked us was, ‘Have you sought help?'”

Through counseling, the sisters have started the healing. They decided to file a lawsuit under the Minnesota Child Victims Act that opened a three-year period (now expired) to allow adult victims of childhood sex abuse to confront their abusers.

For the eight, the lawsuit was not about the money. It was about coming out from behind the shroud of shame and secrecy that surrounds sexual abuse. It was about holding their abusers accountable and reclaiming their lives.

After the lawsuit was settled, each of the sisters found different ways to “pay it forward.” Several made generous donations to advocacy agencies so victims of sexual violence could get the help they needed. They also realized there was a bigger, more societal, task at hand — that of making sure youth and the overall community received education and prevention information on sexual violence. They knew it was important to let other abuse victims know they were not alone; there is hope and there is help.

In April 2016, Alison Feigh of the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center presented “Safe, Not Scared” to over 700 Redwood Valley and St. John’s Middle and High School students. That evening Patty Wetterling presented “Building a World that is Worthy of its Children” to over 450 community members. In 2017 oldest sister Laura Lee led the charge and raised enough money to fund two more prevention/education events. The Illusion Theatre Teen Troupe provided prevention/education in the form of theater performances for the youth of both the Springfield and Red Rock Central School Districts. And Patty Wetterling once again offered her message of continued hope for our children, this time to close to 1,200 people in the sisters’ hometown of Springfield.

“If we can save one child from crying silent tears and feeling like it was their fault, and getting the help they need so they don’t have to live with it. It happened to me 61 years ago, and it still hurts,” Brennan said.

Going forward, Brennan said, the sisters are hoping to bring national advocate Erin Merryn to Minnesota to speak. Merryn, also a victim of child sex abuse, is pushing to have “Erin’s Law” passed in all 50 states. The law requires all public schools in each state to implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program, which teaches children, through age-appropriate techniques, to recognize chid sexual abuse and to tell a trusted adult; to teach school personnel about child sexual abuse, and to provide parents and guardians with the warning signs of child sexual abuse and to provide assistance, referrals or resource information to support sexually abused children and their families. The law has been passed in 26 states and is pending in 17 more, including Minnesota.