Three women are murdered EVERY day.
That's one of the stats given by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. It needed to stand alone. While their main focus of NCADV is to provide a link to advocates across the nation, they also mourn the loss of lives lost to domestic violence and celebrate those who have survived.
At the height of this awareness, during the mid to the late 90's, I volunteered with JASA (Just A Sister Away) House. The non-profit would provide clothing and secure shelter to women in need. During the month of October, as a volunteer, we would create these stand alone walk through type boards with the names of all the women who lost their life at the hand of a man. As with all non-profits funding is the name of the game and it was difficult for the two women running it to keep it all afloat.
The national organization used to do something similar called Remember My Name but when I went to their site, I noticed there hasn't been a list since 2004.
October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month and over the years I have seen activities and events surrounding DVA slowly diminish in favor of Breast Cancer Awareness. Both causes are important and I can see how easy it is to talk about one more than the other.
For those interested in taking action, volunteering to assist afflicted partners (partners because occasionally it can happen to a man too) and their children, but don't have time to participate in an event, check out their site. Though it looks like certain pages haven't been updated in a while, some things don't have an expiration date. They list things as simple as donating your old mobile phones, or if you got it like that, donating a car.
Also while it is Domestic Violence month, violence doesn't stop when the month ends. Check you local area to see if there are any events planned outside of the month and make sure you take those old mobiles and help someone in need out.
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