october 2024 - domestic violence awareness month
Bringing Domestic Violence Awareness to our Community 2024
Every year we devote the month of October to Domestic Violence Awareness. We plan and schedule events all over town and wear purple which signifies DV. While each year has different events, year after year, the message is the same-END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!
This year we participated in a “Bride’s March” to honor the life of Gladys Ricart and all lives lost to domestic violence. Ms. Ricart’s tragic story was portrayed in a documentary on A & E, “American Justice-Death of a Bride”.
As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words, so adjacent you will see a picture of a wedding gown, a replica depicting any one of the hundreds of thousands of victims of domestic violence that died at the hands of their abuser. This picture and the display are difficult to look at but try to imagine what the victim and their family must have experienced.
Penelope House is the first shelter to open in the State of Alabama in 1979. It was only the fifth in the entire country. We shelter, provide domestic violence counselling, educate our community, provide training to various groups including law enforcement and much more! Our mission is to provide safety, protection, and support through the provision of shelter, advocacy, and individual and community education.
In addition to shelter and safety, we have a community education, prevention education, transitional living, 24-hour crisis line, and a court advocate program.
OCTOBER IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MONTH
