By Staff
On Saturday, April 16, Rose's Garden of Hope will be holding a countywide fundraiser.
Funds will be used to support victims of domestic violence throughout Cass County in hopes of raising awareness and getting people talking about this pervasive social issue.
Even though October is National Domestic Violence Month, Rose's Garden of Hope believes that the awareness of domestic violence should be spread throughout the year.
The statistics are staggering. Nationally, almost one third of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.
About one in five youths will be involved in an abusive relationship by the time they graduate from high school.
Whether we know it or not, we all know someone who has been affected by domestic violence.
It is everyone's business. It affects all of us - every family, every workplace and every community.
Each one of us has a responsibility to call attention to it, address it and stop it wherever possible.
Imagine a single day where women and men, teenage girls and boys, grandmothers and grandsons turn to each other and actually talk about a problem that is more common than breast cancer and more insidious than AIDs. A problem that by it's nature makes people uncomfortable: domestic violence.
By having this fundraiser, Rose's Garden of Hope wants to stop the silence on domestic violence on April 16 and assure that on that day, Cass County residents will be talking in churches, offices, homes and on sidewalks about the fact that nearly one in three women will be abused in her lifetime.
Daughters will be told that a boy should never hit them or isolate them from others. A new conversation will be opened with an acquaintance suspected of suffering in silence.
Police, women's shelters and government officials alone cannot prevent men from abusing the women they claim to love (or, in statistically far fewer cases, women from abusing the men they claim to love). But everyone can take this initiative and make it their own, helping all residents of Cass County over the course of one day.
This important issue is already on the minds of American women.
Domestic violence doesn't only affect adults. It affects children, too. Children who witness domestic violence are learning that the people they love the most may hurt them. They learn that living in fear is a normal feeling and that violence is an acceptable method of resolving conflict.
Domestic violence causes a range of symptoms in a child, such as poor interpersonal skills, low self-esteem, eating disorders, a reduction in cognitive ability and severe lack of sleep.
Children can even feel guilty, believing that they are the direct cause of the violence, and they can feel inadequate about not being able to prevent the violence from happening. More profoundly, children in such circumstances can sometimes resort to acts of violence themselves, displayed as acts of aggression and bullying in school and outside.
You can make a difference on April 16. Talk to someone in your life about domestic violence. Come out and support the cause. Rose's Garden of Hope will be located at several locations. If you would like to volunteer or make a charitable donation by mail please call 269/782-9819 to discuss the matter.
Now imagine a day when we won't need to talk about domestic violence ever again
. Please join in making this dream a reality. Rose's Garden of Hope looks forward to seeing the community support this cause. Break the silence on domestic violence.