October 2022 is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

A purple candle lit to honor those who died from domestic violence and those who survived.

Proclamation and candle lighting ceremony took place Oct. 3, 2022

Photos by Mary Alice Murphy

The annual start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and those attending filled The Woman's Club to hear from speakers and survivors, to hear the proclamation as presented to and approved by the Grant County Commission, and to thank those who help everyday.

Rachel Sierra, El Refugio, Inc. domestic violence shelter and services executive director, began the ceremony.

Domestic violence, she said, is not just a one-month campaign. "We fight the fight every day to keep making people aware of the domestic violence in our community. I thank all the law enforcement officers here from the Silver City Police Department and the Grant County Sheriff's Office. They are on the front lines every day."

"Every life is important," Sierra continued. "Domestic violence often happens between partners and in marriages, but also children are impacted, either through abuse of themselves or seeing their parents abuse and be abused. They will learn from being surrounded by abuse and become, later in life, either an abuser or a victim.

"We honor those today who have died as a result of domestic abuse," she said. "We had two deaths in 2021. Children, too, get killed. We at El Refugio cannot do the work by ourselves. I thank you for showing up today to honor those who have died at the hands of loved ones."

Pastor Cody Landers of Rise Community Church gave the opening prayer.

Sister Rosemary Farrell, who also works at the shelter counseling children, and Mario Ogas, who does domestic violence offender counseling, sang: "Who Will Speak?"

Sierra said the song said it all. "Who will speak? If you see something, say something Somebody saw something and saved my granddaughter, who is with us here today. Speaking up about what you see is important."

County Commission Chair Chris Ponce read the proclamation, which had been approved by the commissioners.

[Please see the full proclamation, with its statistics below:]

Two survivors presented heart-wrenching stories about their experiences and how law enforcement and El Refugio, Inc. save them.

Sierra said: "To all survivors of domestic violence, we applaud you today. We also applaud the officers who helped you."

The Lighting of the Candle ceremony took place, with several small candles lit by those attending. Ponce lit the large one at the front of the venue.

Sierra acknowledged those who helped at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Among those she recognized were Jason Quintana with Silver Barbell, A.J. Tow with Twin Sisters Cycling and Fitness. These individuals donated 13 baskets. Justin Ortiz of Haven Hospice was also recognized for providing toys for Christmas. They also recognized Los Viejitos Car Club, Carlos Holguin.

Sierra concluded by saying: "Marios Ogas has a tough job doing the offender counseling, both men and women. We need offenders to learn responsibility. Most of all we need accountability. I'm not sure if we need more laws or more training. We have children facing the growing problem of domestic violence. We need to teach the girls to say: 'No' and to be respected. Choices are made for love, but don't ever give up. We sent to Santa Fe and got the language changed in the restraining orders from 'can arrest' to 'shall arrest.'"

At the end, those police cars that had arrived at the event, had magnets placed on them to promote Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Sierra said many leave the magnets on their vehicles past the end of October, until they fade or fall off. She remined everyone that the awareness should be not only for the month of October, but all year.