Commissioners declare October ‘Domestic Violence Awareness Month’

Gonzales County Commissioners Court signed a proclamation Tuesday, Oct. 10, declaring October 2023 to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

In reading aloud the proclamation, County Judge Pat Davis noted that the Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter Inc., which has served Gonzales, Guadalupe, Karnes and Wilson counties for 40 years, answered 992 crisis calls and provided 6,398 services to survivors of domestic violence from September 2022 through July 2023.

The proclamation states that “domestic violence violates an individual's privacy and dignity, security and humanity and is a systematic use of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological and economic control and/or abuse, including abuse to children and the elderly.”

“The problems of domestic violence are not confined to any group, or groups, of people, but cut across all economic, racial and societal barriers, and are supported by societal indifferences,” Davis said. “The impact of domestic violence is wide-ranging, directly affecting individuals and society as a whole.

“Women are not the only targets. Men, young children and the elderly are also victims, and sadly, emotional scars are often permanent.”

The proclamation notes that domestic violence “costs United States companies at least $3.5 billion in lost work time, increasing health care costs, high turnover and lower productivity.”

Places like Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter exist because “it is battered women themselves who have been in the forefront of the efforts to bring peace and equality to the home.”

Finally, the proclamation calls on “all citizens, community agencies, religious organizations, medical facilities and businesses to increase their participation in efforts to combat domestic violence, thereby strengthening the community in which we live.”