Longtime Riverside activist Jane Block will be honored next month by the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center.
The center’s 50th Anniversary Dinner & Auction Gala is set for Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Victoria Club in Riverside. The event is sold out, but donations for the center’s programs and services are being accepted.
Block, 94, is “a pioneer and activist for women’s rights,” a center news release states, adding that she is a “treasure for Riverside.”
Block’s local involvement began shortly after moving to Riverside in 1968, when she joined the National Organization for Women’s Riverside-SanBernardino Chapter. In 1973, she was on the committee that led to the founding of UC Riverside’s Women’s Resource Center and was a board member.
She also served as chair of the Riverside County Commission on Status of Women. Block founded the Riverside County Child Care Consortium in 1987 and was later a board member of the Family Service Association of Western Riverside County.
Founded in 1973, the nonprofit center is “a beacon of hope and has provided a support system for survivors,” the release states.
The center’s programs include care and support for survivors and families affected by sexual violence such as sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. It also works to educate the community and to raise awareness and prevention of sexual violence, according to the center. It operates a 24/7 emergency hotline.
Information: www.RARCC.org/gala
