Woman on billboard in Oklahoma hopes to raise awareness for victimized children
By Kilee Thomas
Click here for updates on this story
STILLWATER, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A woman on a billboard in Stillwater overnight hopes to raise awareness for a child advocacy center.
Sharyl Pickens will be 40 feet up until 7 p.m. Thursday night. For 36 hours in total, she will be up on that billboard raising awareness for victimized children.
“I’m kind of crazy. People have called me a nut for doing this. It’s a little outside the norm but that’s what we need right now,” Pickens said.
Starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday, she climbed up the billboard overlooking Highway 177. She won’t be coming down until 7 p.m. Thursday night.
“I thought well, I could climb up there and draw attention to a nonprofit organization and see if we could get something crazy,” Pickens said.
The courage act is to raise awareness for Saville Center.
“She is one of our greatest supporters,” said Heidi Warren, program administrator.
The Saville Center is a child advocacy agency providing services for victimized children who have been abused or neglected.
“We function on grants and private donations. Any help we can get is appreciated and needed. Everything we do here is for the kids,” Warren said.
She picked the date back in September when the long-term forecast looked a little warmer.
“We have a list on my Facebook page that is a list of things that the Saville Center needs,” Pickens said.
Despite the frigid temperatures, she said she’s in it for the long haul.
“I can’t see what would make me come down unless there’s a terrible, terrible wind or maybe precipitation. I’ve got an electric heater, my Keurig coffee machine. We’ve already made coffee this morning,” Pickens said.
If you stop by and see her at the billboard, you can win two Oklahoma State women’s basketball tickets to their Sunday night game. She also has some fun challenges on her Facebook page.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
