CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There have been 25 deaths in the past year related to domestic violence, according to information collected from the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
“The statistics show 1 in 4 people experience domestic violence in their lifetime and/or 1 in 4 people know someone who have, so I think it’s touched us all in one way or another,” Tonia Thomas, coordinator for WVCADV.
The coalition held its annual Purple Ribbon Awards Ceremony at Charleston’s Clay Center.
“This is the one time of year we reflect and remember and then also it’s a time for us to celebrate the work of domestic violence advocates and all the people around the state who try to make a difference every day,” Thomas said.
Megan Halstead, one of the award recipients, is an advocate in Putnam County for the Branches Domestic Violence center.
“It’s a tremendous honor,” she said. “We see it daily. We get 5-6 calls a day on different things that are happening in our county just alone.”
She said works with victims by going to court with them or just to be “a shoulder to cry on.”
“It is very challenging,” Halstead said of the emotions involved, “but we take it a day at a time.”
Thomas said she believes the issue of domestic violence can be stopped by helping one another.
“I think we often kind of rely on the systems to take care of those problems, but I think that really us as community members need to let abusers and batterers know that what they do is not okay and hold them accountable for what they do on a community level and support victims and survivors,” she said.
Thursday’s awards were handed out to individuals who made exceptional contributions to the statewide work to end domestic violence. Awardees included: Commissioner Nancy Exline, Judge James Rowe, Megan Halstead and Verizon.