People and pets walk for awareness
People and pets walk for awareness
| CAPTION: Daily Mining Gazette/Laura Kirby Suryanarayana with her Boston Terrier “Buddy”. |
By Laura Kirby, DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — When physical abuse happens in a home, there is no such thing as one victim, says Shalini Suryanarayana.
It takes just one person to experience domestic violence, but many more people are hurt by it, and the problem becomes one for the whole community.
“Every person who lives with abuse at home carries it into all of his or her relationships — at work, school, with friends ... “ she says. “Every child who experiences that goes to school and interacts with other children.”
That’s why Suryanarayana says she’s hoping to get the whole community involved in the very first Walk Against Violence event starting 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The event, which is the first of its kind, is a collaboration between the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter Home and the Copper Country Humane Society. The event is designed to raise community awareness about domestic violence and its effects on all people.
Organizers from both sides are inviting all people, together with their friendly, controllable pets to gather at the Houghton Waterfront behind the Ambassador, to learn about the link between domestic violence and animal abuse and the services provided by both shelters.
Keynote speakers at the event include a Michigan Tech University graduate student who used the BKG shelter services after a personal experience with domestic violence and CCHS rescued dog ‘Mack.’
“We’re not asking for money, and we won’t be standing on a soap box at this event,” said Suryanarayana. “We’ll be sharing some small stories about the impact of our services and why we need to support these shelters.”
Suryanarayana is chair of the BKG shelter’s board of directors and director for Special Academic Programs in Michigan Tech University’s Educational Opportunity department.
After winning the 2006 ‘Heart & Hands of the Keweenaw Award’ in July, Suryanarayana decided to dedicate her $1,000 prize money to the Walk Against Violence event and got Teresa Woods and Joan Petrelius of the Humane Society’s board of directors involved in the walk.
Along with emergency shelter, the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter offers a 24-hour crisis line,counseling and information for those experiencing domestic violence.
The crisis line is 337-5632 or 884-4004 in Ontonagon.
For more information visit www.pasty.com/~bkghome.
The Copper Country Humane Society serves all four counties of the Copper Country, offering rescue homes for more than 800 animals each year.
Laura Kirby can be reached at lkirby@mininggazette.com
Previous page: County OKs final land plan
Next page: Portage Twp. trustee resigns