Silent Cry rally sparks community action

Oftentimes, the worst part about abuse is the isolation. 

Silent Cry is mak­ing it their mis­sion that no vic­tim of abuse feels isolated. 

Silent Cry, an orga­ni­za­tion in Winchester to sup­port women and chil­dren affect­ed by domes­tic vio­lence, host­ed a ral­ly at College Park on June 6. It was able to put this event togeth­er in just eight weeks, and it was met with tremen­dous sup­port by ven­dors and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers alike. 

Events like this one are not the end of Silent Cry’s out­reach. Brenda Marstella, direc­tor of Silent Cry, is plan­ning to cre­ate a house to serve as a shel­ter for vic­tims of domes­tic abuse. 

“We are going to get a big house to host women and kids,” said Marstella. “We’re going to bring them in for 60- 90-day programming.” 

With these pro­grams, Marstella is hop­ing that Silent Cry can build a com­mu­ni­ty in Winchester for these indi­vid­u­als who have been abused. 

“Greenhouse 17 is the clos­est house to us,” Marstella said. “They’ve got 15 hous­es across Kentucky, and they’re so busy it’s hard to get peo­ple in there.” 

Silent Cry’s efforts to cre­ate a house will help these women and chil­dren get out of har­m’s way and away from their abusers. Marstella hopes this house will not just be a place for these 60–90-day pro­grams but also a tem­po­rary getaway. 

“Once we get the home open, we are going to have a safe room,” Marstella said. “A lot of women can’t come and stay in the home, but they’re gonna have a place to come.” 

Marstella is not the only per­son pas­sion­ate about find­ing com­mu­ni­ty for these vic­tims, how­ev­er. In fact, many speak­ers at Silent Cry’s ral­ly touched on the impor­tance of togeth­er­ness in sit­u­a­tions like these. 

“This is the cru­elest part of domes­tic vio­lence,” said Alex Chandler dur­ing her speech. “It iso­lates you. It con­vinces you that you are trapped and alone.” 

Through her speech, Alex shares her sto­ry of abuse that affect­ed her kids, her job, her social life, and her own phys­i­cal safe­ty. Eventually, Alex was able to get help and get away from her abuser. 

“For the first time, oth­er peo­ple saw the truth about the man I had been liv­ing with,” she said. “Friends, fam­i­ly, and mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty helped me find a safe place to live.” 

Alex con­tin­ues to say that even though she escaped her abuser, she still had to fight for her safe­ty and that of her children. 

“There is life after abuse, there is safe­ty after fear, and there are peo­ple who will believe you,” said Alex. 

Alex is an exam­ple of some­one who was able to escape her abuser. However, not every­one is able to do the same. 

This past October, our com­mu­ni­ty lost a 35-year-old woman to domes­tic vio­lence. Ava Brantley was trag­i­cal­ly killed by her hus­band after years of violence. 

“Ava did ask for help,” said Michelle Hayes, Ava’s moth­er. “She asked for pro­tec­tion for her kids and pro­tec­tion for herself.” 

Michelle spoke at Silent Cry’s ral­ly, urg­ing peo­ple to do what they could to help out those affect­ed by domes­tic violence. 

“Ava’s voice may have been stolen, but we can use ours to help oth­ers,” said Michelle. 

Silent Cry is work­ing on fundrais­ers to sup­port their goal of build­ing a house for those affect­ed by domes­tic vio­lence. This ral­ly was just the start, one iso­lat­ed event that will lead to a long line of suc­cess in pro­tect­ing women and chil­dren from domes­tic violence. 

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