Task Force hosts annual vigil to end the violence

Every October, red silhouettes appear around town as a solemn reminder of local lives lost to domestic violence. And every October, the Culpeper Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault comes together to remember the deceased, honor survivors and celebrate those who work to end the violence.

The Candlelight Vigil is tonight from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the county administration building at 302 N. Main Street. The annual event is being held in conjunction with National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Susheela Varky, staff attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, is this year’s special speaker.

“This event is all about victims and survivors,” said Mark Nowacki, director of the Culpeper County Crime Victim’s Assistance program.

It’s a time for family and friends to honor and remember two young Culpeper women who were murdered by their partners in separate incidents in 1998 – Kim Shanks, 26, and Christina Jenkins, 23. Jenkins son, 3-year-old Ryan, was also lost in the violent incident.

For both families, the pain still lingers.

“At times it will catch up to you,” Kim’s father, Freddie Shanks Sr. of Reva, said at last year’s candlelight vigil. “When I see a car that looks like hers, that gets to you.”

The violent loss of a daughter still gets to Christina’s father, John Jenkins Sr., too.

“I was … one of her best friends,” said Jenkins, of Spotsylvania, last year. “She called me for everything. It’s been 11 years, but I’m still not over it.”

Tragically, about half of the clients supported by the local crime victim’s assistance program are victims of violence in the home or sexual assault. On average, a battered woman goes back to her abuser seven times before she has the strength to leave, according to Nowacki.

In Culpeper County, hundreds of domestic violence victims seek help through the court system every year, he said. There are also a variety of local nonprofit groups that provide emergency, educational and ongoing support to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, including children.

The Culpeper Task Force is comprised of community advocates working every day to end the violence or be there to help pick up the pieces, including: the commonwealth’s attorney office, criminal justice services, sheriff’s department, police department, victim witness program, social services, Rappahannock Legal Services, Services to Abused Families (SAFE) and the Culpeper Community Development Corporation.

The sheriff’s department, in a news release earlier this month, invited the community to take a few moments to attend tonight’s candlelight vigil to remember those affected by domestic pain and trauma.

“It is our sincere goal to end the cycle of violence that persists in the homes around us, each and every day,” the sheriff’s office said.

Nowacki added, “It is our goal to promote awareness, and to let people know that help is available from a community that genuinely cares!”

Want to go?
The annual domestic violence and sexual assault Candlelight Vigil is tonight from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Culpeper County Administration building, 302 N. Main St., around back in the county boardroom.