Members from the community showcase their signs to show their support during last year’s annual Ware Domestic Violence Awareness Walk.
Photo credit: The Ware River Valley Domestic Violence Task Force
WARE — The Ware River Valley Domestic Violence Task Force is hosting its ninth annual Domestic Violence Awareness Walk on Sunday, Oct. 20, at 1 p.m. at Veterans’ Memorial Park, 101 Main St.
The event will take place at Ware Town Hall in case of rain.
October is domestic violence awareness month, and the task force encourages the community to come out and show their support.
Ware River Valley Domestic Violence Task Force Coordinator Monica Moran talked about the event and said, “The walk is very short. It’s not a long event so we want that to be something people can fit into their day. I think if you want to do something about domestic violence, this is a good thing to do. If you come to this, it makes a difference. The more survivors that are there, the more they know they are not alone.”
The event will feature music, exhibits and a raffle followed by a short walk through downtown Ware.
District Attorney Dave Sullivan, state Rep. Todd Smola (R-Warren), Massachusetts Director of Rural Affairs and former state Sen. Anne Gobbi and other community members will speak.
Survivors and others directly impacted by domestic violence will also be invited to speak.
Guests are encouraged to wear purple and either brings their own signs or make a sign when they are there.
Student members of the Ware High School Domestic Violence Task Force will lead the event.
Moran talked more about the importance of the High School Domestic Violence Task Force teaching young adults the early warning signs of a potentially toxic relationship.
Nationwide, young people ages 16-24 are at the highest risk for relationship violence.
Moran explained, “This walk is basically a collaboration between the high school task force and the community task force. It’s the only high school task force that we know about at least in Western Massachusetts so that’s really unique. I think getting people involved at that young age has a tremendous impact because we know the highest rate for domestic violence are ages 16 to 24 and so I do think that having this task force for 25 years has changed the landscape.”
The community task force will be 25 years old next year and the high school task force is around 15 years old and have been teaching themselves and others what is the difference between a healthy relationship and someone who is experiencing domestic violence.
Moran talked more about the important work the task force is doing.
She said, “I think what it does is make people who are going through it know they are not alone. Domestic violence is not something people really talk about so with the walk, I’ve talked to high school students who have told me that learned so much listening to people who have actually gone through it and seeing this actually real.”
With this being the ninth annual Ware Domestic Violence Awareness Walk, Moran said this walk is important to keep putting on each to show survivors the community supports them.
Moran said, “It’s important that people get the help they need, individual help they need, but I think that the impact of the walk and like 100 people coming together and saying, we are a community who will not accept this, this is what we believe in, we believe in respect, equality and safety. It changes the culture, and it makes survivors feel like they are not alone, and that they don’t deserve it. That’s transformative. Direct services are critical and we need it at the frontline but if we are really going to address the root causes, that’s at a community level.”
Moran shared an example that “last year we were putting up flyers for the walk and there was a women who came up to us and asked about it and she was a survivor and she had gotten out and she was safe but she said you’ll never know how important it is to me that you’re doing this.
The task force can be reached on Facebook, at www.waredvtaskforce.org, wrvdvtaskforce@gmail.com or by phone at 413-758-0605.
