Domestic violence awareness events planned in October

Oct. 6, 2011

    In the month of October, ADV & SAS, Freedom House, and the IVCC Human Services Organization will be holding Domestic Violence Awareness Month events.
    The events include The Clothesline Project, The shoe display, a Domestic Violence Awareness Table day, The Silent Witness Project, a Walk a Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes March, and a cumulative awareness day on the IVCC extension site located in Ottawa.
    October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and organizers are hoping that these events will bring attention to domestic violence, its impacts on the family in the local community, and to honor of the victims and survivors of domestic violence.
    The Clothesline Project was hung in the IVCC Main Lobby on October 4 and information about domestic violence and local resources to help stop violence were given out.
    The Clothesline Project is a nation-wide project to shed light on partner violence and its impact on the lives of victims. All the shirts that will be hung in the lobby will have been made by local survivors.
    The shoe display will help promote Domestic Violence awareness. This display will be put up on Oct. 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
    The Domestic Violence Table day will contain information on what domestic violence is and where to go to seek help if you or a loved one is a victim of domestic violence. The table will be setup on Oct.r 18 from 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
    There will be a cumulative day for IVCC’s extension site which is located in Ottawa and will display smaller portions of the events that are occurring for Domestic Violence Awareness month.
    The participants will be on the extension site campus from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will have information on how to seek help for you or a loved one who may have fallen victim to domestic violence.
    The Silent Witness Project .will be held on Oct. 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will include a moment of silence to take place at 1:18 p.m.
    The moment of Silence speaker will be IVCC’s Vice President for learning and student development, Richard Pearce. The Silent Witness project is a display of wooden silhouettes that articulate the stories of domestic violence victims on the chest of the silhouette.
    A Walk a Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes is a march on IVCC’s campus that is to support local survivors of domestic violence.
    Men and women will march on Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. in order to show support for a local victim of Domestic Violence, Shannon Washington, and others who have fallen victim in our communities.
    The concept of the walk is to wear another person’s shoes while walking to remember how important it is to consider each person has their own story and as a human race we need to grow together to help one another.

• 1 in every 4 women experience domestic violence at some point in her lifetime.
• 85 percent of domestic violence victims are women.
• Women ages 16 to 24 have the highest per capita rated of intimate partner violence.
• Over 1/3 of women seeking injury-related treatment in emergency rooms were injured by a current or former partner.

    For more information about events surrounding Domestic Violence Awareness Month, please call Kelly Henry at ADV/SAS (815) 434-9650 Ext. 227, Stephanie Cartwright at Freedom House (815) 872-0087 Ext. 224.