The Columbus Police Department will hold a candlelight vigil and balloon release in front of the Municipal Complex on Tuesday.
The event is in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and is meant to educate the public about domestic violence, according to the CPD Victims Advocate Coordinator Dorothy Givens.
The event will begin with the balloon release at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Guest speaker Yolanda Turner will talk about domestic violence, and then CPD will hold an open forum for survivors wanting to share stories. The event will end with a 7 p.m. candlelight vigil.
Givens hopes the event will give survivors a chance to tell their stories and encourage victims currently suffering from domestic abuse to find help.
“If you are in a domestic violence relationship…there’s help out there for you,” Givens said. “You do not have to stay in that situation. We have programs in the system that can help you to move forward out of that environment so that your children will not be reared in that environment.”
The event was scheduled for a Tuesday evening specifically so city council members could attend, Givens said.
The Victims Advocate Program at the police department began in July 2014. Since then, Givens has worked with 153 victims escaping some type of domestic violence.
“And that’s just the city of Columbus,” she added.
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