Saturday’s sales at Gary Mann Jewelers to benefit sexual abuse victims

In response to the allegations of sexual abuse at Penn State University, alumni, families and sports fans of the college quickly organized a fundraiser to raise money for abuse victims. Among the members of this group, known as ‘Proud To Be A Penn Stater,’ are Gary and Norma Mann, who own Gary Mann Jewelry on Main Street in Manayunk. Ten-percent of all Gary Mann sales on Saturday, Nov. 26, will be donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incent National Network.“Doing our small part to raise money for RAINN gives us a sense of purpose, instead of a feeling of helplessness,” says Mann, whose daughter is a junior at Penn State, and whose son recently graduated as well.Proud To Be a Penn Stater’s goal is to raise more than $500,000, representing one dollar for each of Penn State’s 557,000 alumni. Within 10 days, the group already raised more than $450,000, Mann says.Money raised by members of ”Proud To Be a Penn Stater will go towards RAINN’s prevention, education and support programs for those affected by sexual abuse. Mann says that messages sent to RAINN’s online hotline has increased more than half since news of Penn State abuse allegation became widely known. According to statistics on RAINN’s website, 44-percent of sexual assault victims are under 18 years old, while 60-percent of sexual assaults go unreported to police.