October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and officials say recent high profile cases in South Dakota highlight the need to deal with the issue.
Women Against Violence Inc., or WAVI, held a conference to discuss domestic violence awareness month and issues in Rapid City. Mark Vargo is the Pennington County States Attorney. He says it’s important that women experiencing domestic violence get help out of their situation.
“Within the community after law enforcement gets involved, WAVI provides us any number of heroes. The people who again provide a safe place, a safe space from which to speak, and allow a victim to get back on her feet without endangering herself, without saying I have to put up with this for the benefit of my children. I have to put up with this because I have no other choices. You all give choices,” says Vargo.
WAVI served 2,011 clients in 2014. 1,834 were domestic violence clients.
Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender says that domestic violence is more common than people realize.
“You couldn’t throw a dart at the calendar and hit a date where there is not domestic abuse going on in Rapid City. It’s the community shame. And I’m just glad that we’re here in the same room and we’re all willing to do something to help make it better,” Allender says.
WAVI has events scheduled all throughout October to help draw awareness to domestic violence.
A list of events WAVI has scheduled can be found at http://www.wavi.org/