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BURRILLVILLE -- A local church with members who were horrified to learn earlier this year about a teen rape case in town donated $500 at worship services yesterday to Sandra Malone of the Sexual Assault and Trauma Resource Center.

The Berean Baptist Church's worship and fellowship committee invited Malone to speak during services yesterday and then meet afterward with members of the congregation to talk more about the sexual assault programs she teaches. Malone is the center's coordinator of prevention education.

Malone told about 20 congregants after services that she teaches children what consent means, that individuals are responsible for their own actions and that children often tell a friend about abuse before they tell an adult.

"We talk about how you can help a friend, that keeping a secret is maybe not the best thing," she told the adult group in the church's meeting room. "Even with the younger children, we tell them it's important to tell mom and dad. ... It's important for them to have five people they can tell."

If they're uncomfortable telling a parent about an abusive situation, children are prepared ahead of time to confide in another adult, she said.

Malone addressed congregants' concerns about sports figures such as Kobe Bryant, who is facing rape charges after an incident in Colorado this summer. She also discussed the way children dress today and ways to minimize what children see on television. She said two to three sentences from parents on their feelings about something on television can be enough.

"It doesn't have to be a long lecture because kids will walk out of the room," she said. "Anytime you see something, if it's against your morals, it's really important to say, 'It's not OK."'

One congregant, Carolyn Ross, said the Kobe Bryant case became a topic of conversation in her family.

"My son loves Kobe," she said.

Her 9-year-old son, Ryan Ross, asked her father his opinion about the boy's basketball idol.

"My father said yes, he's a great basketball player, but what he did, or may have done, is not good," she said.

Malone said it's good to break an issue down in that way and separate the star's basketball skills from whatever else he may have done.

The church's $500 donation is for the Sexual Assault and Trauma Resource Center to teach about sexual assault in the middle and high schools, parishioner Susan Maiocchi told Malone and the congregation.

Malone said yesterday that she'll talk with Burrillville High School principal Richard Trogisch about ways to use the money.

"I'm overwhelmed," she said about the donation. "They have such a commitment. You can see the commitment coming through from the reverend."

Malone said the Resource Center has been going into the Burrillville schools for about 20 years -- almost always in the first grades, sometimes in fourth grades and sometimes alternating between middle and high school classes.

"Burrillville really has to be a proud community, where they've had these programs for kids for 20 years," Malone said last week.

The Rev. Lynne Holden, the interim pastor at Berean Baptist, spoke from the pulpit yesterday about her recent experience on a grand jury, where she listened to the "saddest stories" of murder, rape and other crimes.

"If there's no place safe in the world, let it at least be safe here," she said. "Now, we're not going to bring a radical change in the world with our $500, but we can be an emotional support to Sandra and people like her. We can get her good word out beyond the fourth grade."

Maiocchi told about 55 people at services yesterday about the concerns that she and other church members had when they learned about the Burrillville teen rape case, which fractured the high school community when many students supported the perpetrator and blamed the victim.

Maiocchi said she learned about the rape from a June 8 Providence Journal story about the high school community's reaction to it.

"Our concern was especially for the teenagers. Do they know what the laws are?"she said. "Have we made it clear the church community can be a support? What moral message are they hearing from the church?"

Maiocchi said she and others on the worship and fellowship committee believe the churches in town have an obligation to step forward and address issues such as sexual assault.

Reporter Kate Bramson can be reached by e-mail at kbramsonXprojo.com