Every October is Domestic Violence month. That’s why you’re seeing the purple ribbons this month. They say one in four of us are affected some way by it. Every 15 seconds a woman is battered (it’ll probably take you twice that time to read this blog post). October is kind of an everything month (there are only 12 months to share) and breast cancer seems to get a lot of the attention and sometimes DV gets overlooked. (Related news.)
First Step is a local shelter in Wayne County. Over 14,000 crisis calls, 7,000 nights of shelter and 20,000 hours of counseling are provided almost every year. I’ve volunteered with them, generally I’d be on call a few times a month and get called to hospitals (police stations, etc.) and talk to people and their families after they’ve been assaulted, I’ve also done stuff with the kids (but not much lately) such as day care, field trips, etc. I’ve been neglecting it lately and need to get back over there (but I’m still wearing my ribbon).
They are always having fund raising events so keep your eyes out for those, it’s a way to donate and have fun at the same time (sometimes it’s a movie night with auctions, shopping at Parisian [you get a discount and they get a cut]). Shelters are always looking for donations, please don’t just think of them around the holidays, they need donations all year round. They always need volunteers to help.
