Written by Eli Dean // Photo by Eli Dean
The White County Domestic Violence Prevention organization hosted its annual Hope Restored auction at the Carmichael Community Center last week.
Several local businesses contributed to the auction by donating items for the event, which happened Oct. 26. Searcy Mayor Mat Faulkner was present and gave a proclamation reminding the community that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Faulkner said the work the community is doing is saving lives and thanked those in attendance for supporting and being a part of the change for the better.
“This is life-saving work,” Faulkner said. “That’s why it is compelling to continue to do hard work and go through these difficult situations so that we can save lives and work to restore families.”
Executive director of White County Domestic Violence Prevention Bobbie Boozer said the event’s main goal was to educate the community.
“We are here with the primary purpose of raising awareness of the fact that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month,” Boozer said. “We feel like a big part of the cure is prevention, and the more that we talk about this, the more we get people to stop being silent about it and the better off we are as a community.”
In 2021, the most recent year with confirmed statistics, 23 women, 14 men and five children were killed as a result of domestic violence in the state of Arkansas. Boozer said there is a solution to the issue, and the proceeds from the auction will help with areas of need within the organization.
“A part of the cure is supporting local domestic violence programs,” Boozer said. “The [proceeds from the] auction benefit White County Domestic Violence Prevention’s outreach office and Hope Cottage.”
There are several types of domestic violence, and the organization has several types of programs to try to reach as many people as possible who need help with domestic violence issues in White County. Anti-human trafficking specialist Melissa Meyer said that awareness is key to eliminating the threat of domestic violence sooner rather than later and it starts with expanded outreach.
“We have the agency of White County Domestic Violence Prevention, and then we have our domestic violence shelter, child abuse programs and then the human trafficking department,” Meyer said. “We need as many people as we can to be aware that awareness is everything and that the more people who know about it and talk about it the more hope we have at being able to eradicate the problem of domestic violence.”
