CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas —
The month of October highlights several important causes one of those domestic violence awareness and with raising that awareness comes the statistics.
According to the 'National Coalition Against Domestic Violence' in a typical day, there are more than twenty thousand phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide.
“There is no particular class, no particular race, no particular gender, it happens across all these different lines and it happens everywhere whether you see it or not,” said Michelle Putman, Second Assistant District Attorney.
This awareness month is about bringing awareness and education to help survivors and victims. Right here in the Coastal Bend the Purple Door and the Nueces County District attorney’s office are doing their part to put an end to domestic violence.
“Help provide any sort of information, referrals for services, to any victims and any of our cases and help them through the process as well,” said Putman.
The Victim Assistance Department in the Nueces County District Attorney's Office is a resource right here in the coastal bend that is helping bring awareness and put a stop to domestic violence making sure victims know that help is here.
“We also work alongside a lot of the local agencies too,” said Putman.
Agencies like The Purple Door; they offer counseling legal advocacy, help getting through the court system and a safe space.
“We do offer an emergency shelter that is for anybody that is needing to get away from their abusive situation it is emergency based but we are open 24 hours,” said Maribel Arredondo, Prevention and Education Manager at The Purple Door.
The Purple Door has kept their doors open even during a time where most of the world went remote.
“We never shut our doors our counselors were always available, our outreach advocates in all of our outreach areas were always available we never stopped working so we were always there for them whether it was virtual, in person or over the phone,” said Arredondo.
And they prepared for a spike in cases due to the pandemic.
“At 3 o’clock in the morning that’s when a victim can maybe leave because their partner is at work, but with the pandemic people were laid off or working from home so now those opportunities to be able to leave weren’t there anymore,” said Arredondo.
According to Putman the District Attorney's Office saw a decrease in the number of reported domestic violence cases in 2020.
“It’s not surprising we saw less numbers even though we expect that there was more of it happening,” said Putman.
Both the Purple Door and the District Attorney's Office continue to work toward preventing domestic violence in the Coastal Bend and awareness is key.
“Our office and mark fought very hard for the passage of Rachel’s law which gives us prosecutors more tools under our belt to successfully prosecute domestic violence cases,” said Putman.
“The only way to help is to educate ourselves, bring that awareness and do our part,” said Arredondo.
If you would like to help the Purple Door with volunteer or donation opportunities you can call their hotline at 881-8888 or visit their website.