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Activities Mark Domestic Violence Month

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 2, 2007

Observing domestic and sexual violence awareness month is as simple as wearing purple every Monday this month and as involved as staging a community awareness fair.

Here are details:

•Today (National Unity Day): The Clothesline Project is on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Solutions Thrift Store, 33535 State Road 52, Dade City. Each shirt tells a survivor's story in words or artwork.

•Wednesday: The Verizon Wireless Clothesline Project kicks off from 10 to 11 a.m. at Saint Leo University's Cannon Memorial Library, 33701 State Road 52. Pasco County Sheriff Bob White, a domestic violence survivor and others will discuss how domestic violence affects the community.

The project runs through Oct. 12.

Viewers of the survivors' T-shirts can share their thoughts in the Clothesline Project Diary, which is traveling throughout the state.
Saint Leo University is collecting cell phones for Verizon's HopeLine program, which refurbishes them so victims can call 911. By the end of 2006, the program had collected more than 3.5 million phones and donated more than $3 million to domestic violence agencies nationwide. For details visit www.verizon wireless.com/hopeline.

•Monday: Julie Ann Rivers of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, will speak at the Pasco County Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force annual breakfast. The event is from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Dade City Woman's Club, 37922 Palm Ave.

•Oct. 16: Pasco-Hernando Community College, in partnership with Sunrise of Pasco County, a domestic violence center, is sponsoring a community awareness fair from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the college's Dade City campus, 36727 Blanton Road. For details, call Sunrise at (352) 521-3120.

•Oct. 18: Sunrise will benefit from a wine-tasting and silent auction at a Lake Jovita home. Tickets are $65, or two for $100.

•Oct. 24: The Salvation Army West Pasco Corps' Center of Hope, 8040 Washington St., Port Richey, will host a law enforcement awards ceremony and lunch from noon to 2 p.m.

•Oct. 25: The 11th annual candlelight vigil to honor survivors and deceased victims of domestic violence is from 6 to 8 p.m. on the west lawn of Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, 7050 Gall Blvd. The family event also features music and poetry. Chairs will be provided.

Pick up purple ribbons, bumper stickers, posters and other materials about domestic and sexual violence at Solutions Thrift Store.

For information, visit www.sunrisepasco.org.

NUMBERS TELL VIOLENCE'S STORY

•One in four women are abused by a partner at some point in their lives.

•Child abuse occurs in 50 percent to 70 percent of the homes where there is domestic abuse.

•Children who witness abuse are twice as likely to become abusers themselves.

•Forty percent of girls ages 14 to 17 report knowing someone who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.

•The majority of women, and even more men, never report abuse by a loved one.

•Men and women in minority groups experience more abuse.

•Domestic violence costs employers $3 billion to $13 billion a year in lost days and reduced productivity.

Sources: American Civil Liberties Union, national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Family Violence Prevention Fund, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Institute for Justice, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (2005)

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