By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
For 20 years, The Cocoon has worked tirelessly with people whose voices were often diminished or dismissed.
The Cocoon’s staff, board, volunteers and partners have ensured services are available for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse over those two decades.
Over the past two years alone, more than 1,600 survivors—800-plus each year—have received services ranging from emergency shelter and a 24/7 hotline to help with safety planning and navigating the legal and criminal justice systems.
Their efforts to create a safer and “beloved community,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, earned the Cocoon the 2026 Drum Major for Peace award. The award was presented during the City of Bowling Green Human Relations Commission’s 37th annual tribute to King held Friday at the Wood County District Public Library.
“Their work reflects the type of community that we all strive to create; community that protects our most vulnerable members with care and compassion,” Bowling Green Mayor Mike Aspacher said Friday while presenting the award.
Built on King’s cornerstone values of dignity and humility, the Cocoon is a champion for survivors.
“Those individuals that are reaching out and asking for our support are right here in our own community,” Mull said. “They’re neighbors, they’re friends, they’re family members, and they’re all people that we know and see and love every day that are experiencing violence in our community.”
She explained that the organization’s work is survivor-centered, honoring the autonomy and choices of the individuals they serve. Guided by trauma-informed care and committed to cultural humility and anti-oppression, the Cocoon recognizes that “healing could not exist without justice,” Mull said. “We create intentionally safe spaces and always act with humility.”
Cultural humility requires a continuous ability to “examine our own power, our own privilege and to listen when we get challenged,” she continued. “Justice demands us to do more than care. It demands us to actively work to dismantle the systems and the barriers that make it difficult for survivors and individuals in our community to find peace, and that prevent them from finding safety, healing, and justice.”
Mull asked for the community’s buy-in for creating peace and preventing violence. “It is a collective responsibility that involves the entire community. It’s not just the work of a single organization.”
That responsibility calls for a fundamental shift in perspective. Instead of asking survivors, “Why didn’t you leave?” the question should be, “Why did violence occur in the first place, and why are we allowing it to continue?”
In addition to working to impact survivors and survivors’ lives, the Cocoon is actively working to prevent violence before it happens.
To continue King’s vision for peace in all communities, Mull said, “It’s really important for us to take that proactive approach to stop and violence before it happens.”
She urged everyone to come together and provide the support, awareness, education, and resources that are necessary to ensure the number of survivors who are reaching out for services goes down.
“It really asks all of us for courage—the courage to listen, the courage to believe, the courage to speak the truth when it’s necessary, and to challenge the systems that are harming us,” she said. “It also asks us to stand firm in our own values,” even when it’s uncomfortable, unpopular and difficult.
“Through courage, faith, and an unwavering commitment to non-violence, Dr. King reminded us that real change is possible when ordinary people choose to stand up and fight for their rights,” Aspacher said. “I’m sure you’ll agree with me that these lessons continue to be relevant today.”
“We are guided by the themes of undaunted hope and the spirit of non-violence, reminding us that true peace is not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of justice and a desire for deeper understanding among people. His vision of the beloved community remains our compass,” said Rev. Robin Small of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and a member of the human relations commission. “I’m proud to live in a community where peace is sought through justice, through love, relationships, and communication, and connectedness.”
