Murphy – Local residents joined the fight against domestic violence during the annual Shatter the Silence ceremony Friday outside First United Methodist Church downtown.
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In recognition of October being Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the names of 68 fatal victims of domestic violence and 16 police officers killed in the line of duty nationwide were read aloud to the audience, which listened in silence as traffic noisily moved in the background.
“It is meaningful to remember the lives lost and their families,” said Matthew Crawford, marketing coordinator/advocate for Reach of Cherokee-Graham County. “The evening has a way of setting a fire in everyone to do evening we can to put a stop to domestic violence.”
The number of victims from August 2022 to September 2023 is especially notable because 26 came as a result of murder-suicides.
“We were shocked this year to find out the number of murder-suicides,” said Cecilia Crawford-Faulkner, executive director of Reach. “This shows the crisis in mental health in our nation. We must stand together to better our community.”
This is Reach’s 40th year fighting domestic violence in the community. Over those years, the nonprofit has:
- received 151,704 crisis calls;
- served a total of 91,188 unduplicated clients;
- had 15,516 victims stay in the overnight shelter.