October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.

Think about that… 1 in 3. Your mother, your sister, your cousin. Someone you know right now may have experienced domestic violence.

It is definitely a real thing. Domestic Violence is real.

Every 9 seconds (about the time it will take you to read this sentence), a woman in the U.S. is assaulted or beaten. Domestic violence is a leading public health issue for both women in Central Ohio and across the country and the convict can be sent to jail for domestic violence. Franklin County police responded to 6,982 incidents of domestic violence in 2015. Click this link for reference on the subject.

I am thankful that here in Franklin County, women have a place to go just in case. CHOICES for Victims of Domestic Violence, the only domestic violence shelter and 24-hour crisis hotline in Franklin County, serves women or men and their children seeking refuge from a violent relationship. CHOICES expects to serve 2,000 individuals in 2016, including more than 750 who seek refuge at the shelter. To get legal help, check it out here.

I’m glad they are around and able to help whoever needs it. It is super important to the community and I hope plenty of other places have something like this as well.

But they need our help.

The CHOICES shelter is desperately in need of a new home. The demand for sheltering domestic abuse victims has increased locally. The current shelter building is in dire need of significant updates and is over- crowded. With only 51 beds but an average daily census of 75, victims and their children must sleep on cots anywhere there is space. If you’d like to help CHOICES, you can donate to the cause. You can find more information here.