Catholic Charities Unites Against Domestic Violence

COBLESKILL — The team at Catholic Charities of Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie Counties met at its new location at the former Maranatha building on Route 7 last Thursday to mark a turning point in their campaign against domestic violence.

Program leader Morgan Cornell told us that there has been a concerted effort to be "out in the community" and let the general public know how Catholic Charities can "serve them." 

The local chapter is taking part in the Clothesline Project, which aims to inform the public about the realities of domestic violence. Highlighting the color purple, Catholic Charities stated that the name of the project came from the traditional gender role of women doing laundry and talking "over backyard fences while hanging their clothes out to dry." 

The program dates from 1990 when Elenita Muniz visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC and "realized that during the same time period, almost as many women were killed by men who supposedly loved them as there were soldiers killed in Vietnam." The original goal of the Clothesline Project was to "let each woman tell her own story on a T-shirt in her own unique way, and hang it out for all to see. It was and is a way of airing society's dirty laundry." Since the Cape Cod Women's Agenda launched the Clothesline Project with 31 shirts displayed on the village green in Hyannis, the program has grown dramatically and allowed people to create "personalized messages" for survivors of abuse. 

Cornell said that the Catholic Charities team had met with local schools in February for its "In Your Shoes" programs to show various scenarios and teach about "healthy relationships." The program has also expanded its public outreach, including with the newspaper, WDSE radio, and a billboard. 

An effort to place a banner on a building in the village like in years past was turned down by Village Mayor Becky Stanton Terk, said Cornell.