While it has been 40 years since Candace Hamilton walked into the Women’s Interval Home of Sarnia-Lambton carrying her young child, thinking about it can still be stressful, she says.
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Feelings she had at the time “came flooding back to me like it was yesterday” as she prepared to speak Saturday at Lambton Mall during the 10th Annual Walk a Mile event for the agency helping women and children flee domestic violence, Hamilton said.
“I felt tremendous shame to have to go there, to walk up those stairs with my toddler, with the clothes on my back” she said. “That’s all we had.”
Walk a Mile raises awareness and funds for the interval home and its programs, including efforts to create new transitional housing for those fleeing violent domestic relationships.
“I couldn’t believe I had let myself get to that point where I had to go for help,” Hamilton said.
But she added, “Shame is OK when you recognize what it is and then you go through it.”
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Hamilton said staff and volunteers at the home rallied around her four decades ago.
“They were good listeners,” she said. When someone knows or suspects someone else is “in violence possibly the best kindness you can show is to be a good listener.”
Her stay at the home “did bring me out of the violence and bring me to a place where I could begin again,” Hamilton said.
She said it takes a long time to recover but “I can stand in front of you 40 years from that day and feel I’m not ashamed anymore.”
Hamilton said her story isn’t unique and told those attending Saturday’s walk, “know that you’re walking with survivors” as well as “women who are still silent and feeling that shame.”
Her story has been among those featured on survivor banners the agency posts to raise awareness.
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Josephine Ethier, fundraising and marketing coordinator with the home, said six of the banners will be in the mall through November, domestic violence awareness month, and December. Other banners are expected to be displayed in the community.
Also, purple exterior lights will shine at Sarnia City Hall and other locations to show support for survivors and encourage conversations about domestic violence.
Ethier said about $30,000 was expected to be collected through sponsors and fundraising from this year’s Walk a Mile, but the event’s ability to raise awareness is also important.
It included a raffle, entertainment from the Joyful Noise Drummers and an interpretive dance by Izzy Thomas, along with stories from survivors and a walk through the mall.
“We need transitional housing for women in this community,” Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said during the event. “We really desperately need it.”
When a site is found for the housing, “we’re going to need each of your voices to support” it and “say this is a good thing for the community,” he told the crowd.
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