In a press release last Friday, YCC announced the launch of the 2026 campaign, meant as “a community-wide initiative designed to spread awareness, foster connection, and provide a visible reminder of the support available to those experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault.”

YCC Marketing and Communications Specialist Michael Pendleton told the Standard-Examiner on Wednesday that the campaign has its origins in 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was created back in 2021 as kind of a creative way to get the community engaged when COVID had pretty much everything shut down and you really couldn’t have gatherings in the usual sense,” he said. “We weren’t allowed to gather at our annual gala, so the teams at YCC felt like it would be a good idea to come up with a creative way to get the community engaged. With Valentine’s Day and the heart theme, it just seemed like a good way to spread the messages of love, safety and hope throughout the community while also getting the community engaged at a time when people really couldn’t.”

Five years later, the tradition continues with 24 hearts scattered throughout the community. Each one is equipped with a QR code or information leading directly to YCC’s 24-hour crisis hotline and support services.

The press release has a few suggestions for how to interact with the hearts, including:

• “Take a photo and post it to social media with the hashtag #YCCHeartofOgden. Tag @ycc_family_crisis_center to help spread awareness of our services.
• Use the hearts to start a dialogue with friends or family about what a healthy relationship looks like.”

Pendleton said the hearts will be displayed through March 5.

“Our number one goal is to get awareness out there of who we are at YCC, who we are in the community, the services we offer for the community,” he said. “This is an awareness campaign for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. We want everyone to know that awareness saves lives and the more people know the services that we offer, hopefully the people that are in need of our services, or if someone knows someone who is in need of our services, maybe this will spark that conversation and help them get the assistance that they need.”

While the first Heart of Ogden campaign was meant to stand in for YCC’s annual fundraising gala, it is now a part of it.

And Pendleton said that this year’s Heart of Ogden Gala will be bigger than ever.

“This is the first year this will be hosted by us at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center,” he said. “It’s a new venue that we have not been in before. We have grown over the years, so we’re excited to have a little bit more space. … Traditionally, we’ve been sold out for the last few years because we met capacity at our former location. We’re excited to have a location where we can sell more tickets.”

This year’s Heart of Ogden Gala is set for Feb. 26.

Pendleton said the Heart of Ogden campaign is especially poignant this year.

“It’s a very exciting time for us to get awareness out to the community,” he said. “Honestly, with all that’s going on, not just in our community but all over right now, there’s a lot of reasons why we should be engaging and connecting with each other and this is just another way to do that — to help send that message of safety, hope and love.”

For more information and to purchase gala tickets, visit https://www.yccogden.org/.