About Domestic Violence in the Military and at home
FYI
At the end of October, the National Domestic Violence Hotline held its annual Vital Links Awards in New York to honor individuals and organizations which have significantly contributed to building awareness of family violence prevention services. Honorees have courageously spoken out against domestic violence and in support of survivors and their families.Fox News Channel Fox & Friends Co-Anchor Gretchen Carlson was the Master of Ceremonies for the event.
Sponsors for the event included Platinum sponsors Verizon, FedEx and CTIA The Wireless Foundation, Gold sponsors Liz Claiborne, Red Media Group, and the General Federation of Women's Clubs with all of its contributing organizations, and Silver sponsors Kaiser Permanente, Lifetime Networks and Burson Marsteller. Other contributors included New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs of GFWC, GFWC Federation Guild Association, Wilkinson, Brimmer, Katcher, Gap, Inc. and Richard Pizutto Events Management.
Awards and recipients included:
Voices for Change Award to S. Epatha Merkerson, best known as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren of NBC's award-winning series Law and Order.
Vital Link Award to the Verizon Foundation for its generosity and support on a local and national level for domestic violence education, prevention and victim empowerment programs.
Special Tribute for Lifetime Achievement to Linda Fairstein, best-selling author of crime novels and one of the country's leading legal experts on crimes of violence, having served for 25 years as the Bureau Chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit of the New York Country District Attorney's Office. We have been told that her unit was the inspiration behind the Law and Order Special Victims Unit series on NBC.
Special Tribute for Advocacy and Social Change to Victor Rivas Rivers, who speaks out on the effects of domestic violence on behalf of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and is the author of a personal memoir, a Private Family Matter. In his book, Victor writes bravely and honestly about what it is like to grow up in a home dominated by domestic violence. In addition to his national speaking engagements, Victor is a regular in the NBC hit series Life.
Media for Change Award to Seventeen Magazine for leading the national conversation about healthy dating and dating abuse, and for its support of Loveisrespect.org, the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline.
Media for Change Award to MySpace for its partnership with Loveisrespect.org, National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline which provided advertising to promote the Helpline to teens.
Volunteers for Change to Jacquelyn Pierce and Nannette White of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) which took on Domestic Violence awareness and prevention as it special project for 2006-2008. Under the leadership of then-International President Jacquelyn Pierce and Chair Nannette White, the GFWC contributed more than $15.9 million to domestic violence awareness and prevention projects throughout the United States.
37 GFWC Members from 13 States Attend Vital Link Awards
When the National Domestic Violence Hotline hosted its annual Vital Links Awards in New York, 37 members of the General Federation of Women's Clubs were in attendance. These 37 club members, wearing shades of purple, were from 13 states, including Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Washington. Don't Forget the Hotline
Many donors make charitable gifts at the end of the year. If that is your giving practice, please remember to make a gift to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. With demand for services up and private funding down, we need your gifts more than ever. Click here to donateThe Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, as part of the recent $700 billion bailout plan restored certain important provisions relating to charitable giving, similar to those in the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The bill provided for a two-year extension of the IRA Rollover provision.
If you are 70-1/2 or older and are required to take minimum distributions from your IRAs (unfortunately this does not include 401(k)s or other qualified plans), the law permits you to instruct your IRA custodian or trustee to distribute up to $100,000 in each of 2008 and 2009 directly to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. As long as the distributions come directly from your IRA (they cannot be distributed to you first), you will not have to report the distribution as income for federal tax purposes. This charitable distribution will also count toward your required minimum distribution for the year.
If this donation opportunity is of interest to you, please contact Ann Dowdy at National Domestic Violence Hotline, 512-685-6301 or adowdy@ndvh.org.
All Our Love; Mom, Tre, & Kendal
Photo by: Jeremy Portje
Julie James, the mother of Holley Wimunc, hugs her grandchildren, Tre (left) and Kendall.
Happy Birthday Holley
December 12th
July 31, 2008 Candle Light Vigil
Thursday, July 31, 2008
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Photo by: Jeremy Portje
Steven Eye nuzzles his son Tre during a prayer vigil for Tre's mother, U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Holley (James) Wimunc, in Maquoketa, Iowa, Wednesday. Wimunc's body was discovered July 13 in a wooded area near the southern border of Camp Lejeune, N.C., three days after a suspicious fire at her Fayetteville apartment.
MAQUOKETA, Iowa -- It was a quick introduction. He swept her off her feet, a romance blossomed, and they ran off to get married with nary a word to friends and family.
That's how a grieving mother explained the whirlwind relationship.
It was only about a year later when the cycle of abuse appeared to come to the forefront; a domestic abuse complaint alleged Marine Cpl. John P. Wimunc, 23, put a gun to Holley (James) Wimunc's head, her biological mother, Julie A. James, of Bristol, Tenn., said.
A few weeks ago, Holley Wimunc's body was discovered burnt and mutilated in a shallow grave in North Carolina. Second Lt. Holley Wimunc's estranged husband was arrested and charged with first-degree homicide.
Friends and family gathered Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil held in Wimunc's childhood church, First Baptist Church of Maquoketa. They came together to take a stand against domestic violence.
"Holley would have wanted someone to stand up and say, 'This domestic violence has to stop,'" said Julie James, who organized the vigil. "What
News You Can Use Tri-state area domestic abuse crisis hot lines 3 National Domestic Abuse Hot Line, 1-800-799-7233 3 Domestic Violence Program of Dubuque: 563-556-1100 3 Family Advocates, Platteville, Wis., 608-348-3838 3 Choices Domestic Violence Program, Galena, Ill., 888-535-9922 can you do, other than make laws change? You have to take every incident seriously."Wimunc's death occurred during one of the most dangerous times for a woman in an abusive relationship, abuse victim advocates say. She was going through a divorce, James said. The couple had been on and off, but she was leaving him for good.
Because abusers fixate on maintaining control, a woman who takes charge and walks away can incite extreme reactions from her abuser, said Sister Carol Karwoski, program counselor at the Domestic Violence Program at the Dubuque Community Y.
"Domestic violence is basically all about power and control. And at this point in time, the abuser has lost control over his victim. And so, he seeks other ways to regain that control," Karwoski said.
In Iowa, 58 percent of domestic violence-related murders are committed after the partners separate, and more than half of those murders occurred within one month of the separation, according to a 2001 report by the Iowa Domestic Abuse Death Review Team.
Women who try to end an abusive relationship often find themselves intricately ensnared by their abuser. Over time, the woman can become financially dependent on her abuser, isolated from friends and family and left with a diminished sense of self-worth. She could be terrified to leave, for fear of physical or emotional retribution, Karwoski said.
The loved ones of a victim of domestic violence have to walk a delicate line, too, she said. The best way to approach the situation is to be a supportive listener, believe them and don't tell them what to do. Oftentimes, the woman will have the best judgment about when it's safe to leave, Karwoski said.
"As tragic as Holley's death was, it's bringing to light a very real issue in our society," she said.
James said she has chosen to focus her anger and grief into raising awareness about domestic violence.
"These (domestic violence) laws are not taken seriously," she said. "I'm just going to keep yelling and screaming about this."
2nd Lt Army Nurse, Holley James Wimunc
Domestic Violence is already at a National epidemic level with no real intervention to be had for the victims- those serving our country or our communities. ,So It should not shock anyone that the recent incidents at Fort Bragg, NC with 3 murdered women soldiers would be at the hands of other soldiers . One of the recent victims to die in Military Rank from Domestic Violence by another Soldier is, my daughter, Holley James Wimunc. .
Holley would have reached her 25th birthday this year, but she wont. She is just one of the victims of Death by Domestic Violence attributed to the killing sprees of women soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina this year. No, its not the Military's fault, blame lies solely with the marine soldier she called her spouse. Could the Military have fore-saw any of these tradegies- probably not any one of them in particular. But could they have recognized that such a National Epidemic would infilitrate their soldier ranks- most definitely. Years ago, the military did a study of recruiters. This study indicated that military recruiters had a higher than average rate for divorce within all military services and even higher than those of civilian status. Idle time study for an inactive military, but indictative that their resources can also pinpoint which of their soldiers and units show a greater propensity to domestic violence on the homefront and measures can be implemented to alter a predictive behavior before such occurs- they do it all the time in basic training. The added stress of War and Military duty greatly embalances family life and this upset is so often overlooked by the Military as simply not a Military issue or function. Sadly, It is everyone's issue. I not only lost my child to one of the most horrific mutalations that no combat unit has ever trained a soldier to perform; the Army has lost one of their prized soldiers at the hands of another soldier. It is a Battle at Home that the Military must be proactive in to ensure no other incidents manifest among the troops on the home front.
I invite everyone that has lost a loved one from domestic violence to share their victim's story, photos, and memories and that we, together, unified in cause- search out ideas that might someday save a life, prevent an event,, change the way things are done - we can do this if we Start@Home- in our hearts and our grief, to find better solutions, interventions, deterrents, and penalities. Please join me to end the Battle at Home to Stop Domestic Violence.
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