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Domestic Violence Project holds auction, party for 21st anniversary

Washtenaw County community members convened at the Women's City Club last Sunday to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the Domestic Violence Project. Mayors Ingrid Sheldon (Ann Arbor) and Cheryl Farmer (Ypsilanti) co-hosted the event, which consisted of a wine reception followed by an auction to raise funding for the Project.

Sheldon said, "It is important that we sit back and take note of the accomplishments of 21 years of recognizing domestic-violence issues." Sheldon, who recommended the establishment of the Mayor's Commission on Increasing the Safety of Women, also commended the increased awareness of violence against women at the University through date-rape education and programs such as SAPAC.

Farmer said that because she is a physician, domestic violence is "close to her heart." ÒMany victims are afraid to tell the truth about being abused. There are certain injuries you just can't attribute to falling down," Farmer said. Farmer said domestic-violence issues have been slow to gain entry into medical literature, and only recently has awareness increased. "As more education gets out there, it becomes easier for a woman to say, I'm not the only one. There's nothing wrong with me. This is wrong, and I shouldn't have to take it," Farmer said.

The Domestic Violence Project, DVP, is a private, non-profit corporation. It serves persons who live or work in Washtenaw County by providing emergency shelter relief for survivors of domestic battery and their children, and by operating a 24-hour crisis line. Catherine McClary, DVP president, said the project has many different funding sources. "It is a public facility, with approximately half the costs coming from private donors, and the rest coming from funding by the general public, United Way, the federal, state, and local governments, and the cities of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor."

Both mayors emphasized this distinction between public and private matters, indicating that "violence is violence" whether it occurs on the street or in the home, and that individual families should not be exempt from the law. McClary said, "Domestic violence is not a private matter that should remain within the family, and it is gratifying to see that it will not be tolerated in this community."