October Extra Blog Post

Hannah Leonard 

North 12 

October 31, 2014 

Extra Blog Post 

        I am still doing my mentorship at the House of Ruth, which is a domestic violence organization. This month was domestic violence awareness month. Domestic violence awareness day was October 20th. On October 22nd the House had an event called 'Rally Out Against Domestic Violence!". I supported the House of Ruth and did my part in creating awareness by handing out purple pins and telling all of my fellow seniors about this event. Although not any of my fellow seniors came to support, I did go and took my mom, sister and best friend. The rally was more of a eulogy and was very moving and emotional. The event was at Garey High School in Pomona and was organized by the high schools football coach. The football coach at Garey high school described, in his speech, the details of his parents domestic violence relationship and how it impacted him as he grew up in that environment. The coach's mother was at the ceremony and it was a very emotional time for her. Most of the audience was in tears as well. Another speaker was a woman who was in a domestic violence relationship and that the House of Ruth had helped personally. Her batterer was particularly violent, persistent, and, with lack of a better word, crazy. Her turning point was when he threatened to bash her skull in with a baseball bat. This is when she knew that if she did not find a way to escape him, she would end up dead. The last speaker was my mentor, Marina Wood. She read a poem which was from the perspective of a woman who died due to domestic violence. I found this particularly moving. There were also balloons with names written on them. Every name was a person who died over the course of this year because of domestic violence. Overall the whole event was very well put together and defiantly pulled on the whole audiences heart strings. I am very happy that I was able to go and support the House of Ruth, my mentor, and the fight against domestic violence.