FLORENCE, S.C. – Home violence stays an issue in South Carolina, Pee Dee Coalition In opposition to Home and Sexual Abuse Shelter Program Director Shonette Dargan-Richardson instructed Florence Metropolis Council members at their Monday assembly on the Metropolis Middle in downtown Florence.
October is Home Violence Consciousness Month. Dargan-Richardson mentioned home violence and home violence consciousness month actions with the the members and people current for the assembly.
“Our objective is to exit and share as a lot info as attainable about what’s going on – not simply in our nation but in addition right here, presently in South Carolina,” Dargan Richardson stated.
For the previous 20-plus years, South Carolina has been within the Prime 10 within the nation within the variety of home violence deaths yearly. This 12 months, Dargan-Richardson stated, South Carolina dropped out of the highest 10. It’s No. 11.
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“For the final 23 years, that is the primary time we have now been out of that high 10,” she stated. “So, there was some enchancment, however there may be nonetheless a complete lot of labor to be completed.”
South Carolina home violence statistics present that 42.3% of South Carolina girls and 29.2% of South Carolina males have skilled intimate accomplice violence, she stated.
In 2019 in South Carolina, 36 girls and 6 males had been victims of home violence murder. Firearms had been concerned in 78.5% of the home violence homicides, Dargan-Richardson stated.
“That lets us know there may be a lot work to be on the subject of offering consciousness, and educating,” she stated.
The Pee Dee Coalition for Home and Sexual Abuse could have many occasions and actions within the eight counties – Florence, Darlington, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Dillon, Marion, Williamsburg and Sumter – it serves.
Upcoming occasions/actions in Florence County embody:
Oct. 14: Clothesline Challenge, 5-7 p.m., Lake Metropolis Administration Constructing, 202 Kelly St., Lake Metropolis
Oct. 20: DV Health Extravaganze, 7 p.m., Health World, 3223 W. Palmetto St., Florence
Oct. 21: Florence County Males In opposition to Home Violence, all day, digital occasion
Oct. 25: Home Violence Paint Celebration, 7-9 p.m., Addie’s Child Paint Studio, 290 W. Evans St., Florence
Oct. 28: Candlelight Vigil, 6-8 p.m., Ronald E. McNair Memorial, Lake Metropolis
Pee Dee Coalition for Home and Sexual Abuse Board member John Cariati stated home violence isn’t a subject folks wish to focus on till “it’s too late to speak about it.”
Nonetheless, the silence should be damaged to carry the consequences of home violence earlier than the general public so one thing could be completed.
“We wish to shatter the silence to home violence. We wish to shatter it. We don’t wish to be within the Prime 10. We don’t wish to be within the Prime 15. We don’t wish to be within the Prime 20,” Dargan-Richardson stated. “We wish to make a distinction on the subject of saving lives.”
Metropolis Councilman Bryan Braddock is chief government officer/president of Home of Hope, a company that helps those that face homelessness since 1990.
Home of Hope and the Pee Dee Coalition for Home and Sexual Abuse cross paths very often, Braddock stated.
Inside a 24-hour time span final week, the Pee Dee Coalition helped transition somebody at Home of Hope to security, he stated.
“I vastly respect what you do,” Braddock stated. “… It’s nice to have a neighborhood accomplice that somebody like us at Home of Hope can name and get a direct response, get the assistance we’d like and get anyone to security.”
