WAKEFIELD — Domestic violence continues to dominate headlines nationwide and locally the Wakefield Alliance Against Violence (WAAV) has been making a valiant effort to bring it to a halt.
One initiative WAAV has undertaken in the last year is the placement of “palm cards” in hair and nail salons frequented by women as well as other businesses. The cards, said founder Bob Eldridge, are made possible through federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
WAAV members believe that no one deserves to live with violence, abuse or fear and it is their intent to raise awareness, provide educational resources and support for families and individuals.
WAAV seeks to raise awareness, provide education resources, working with other community groups, teaming with law enforcement and social support services, WAAV places emphasis on prevention and assistance. Given this goal of prevention and intervention, the organization is currently working to create greater awareness of the widespread domestic violence problem.
According to the National Coalition against Domestic Violence (NCADV), “domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner over another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats and emotional abuse.”
NCADV reports domestic violence as epidemic and affecting individuals regardless of age, economic status, sexual orientation, gender, race, religion or nationality.
On average, nearly 20 people per minute are victims of physical violence by an intimate partner in the United States, and one in three women and one in four men have experienced domestic violence within their lifetime.
