{"id":5534,"date":"2025-10-15T21:52:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5534\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T21:52:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:52:06","slug":"event-to-shine-light-on-domestic-violence-in-tampa-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5534\/","title":{"rendered":"Event to shine ‘Light’ on domestic violence in Tampa Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month<\/a>, and in Tampa Bay, one organization is working to shine a spotlight on the issue with a “Light It Up” event on Thursday.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know
\n
\nMinisterio Mujeres Restauradas Por Dios<\/a> has been serving victims of domestic violence for 11 years\u00a0
\n

\nNancy Hernandez is the founder of the nonprofit and has been hosting the Light It Up event in Tampa for three years
\n

\nThe nonprofit provides support and resources
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\nThe Light It Up for domestic violence awareness event is taking place Thursday in front of Tampa City Hall at 6 p.m.
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old saying: “A dog is man\u2019s best friend.” For Nicole LaDue, her animals are that and much more.<\/p>\n

She says\u00a0they\u2019re the support system that\u2019s gotten her through some of the worst moments of her life. \u201cIf we\u2019re having a bad day, with just a little hug and love, it turns our day around.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaDue is a domestic violence survivor. “It started off with very disturbing, mean text messages, and I would make excuses that he was stressed out because of the workplace,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said that eventually, her then partner became physical with her. She shared pictures of her bruised face.<\/p>\n

LaDue said her life spiraled. She eventually lost her job and home. About two years ago, she decided to leave the relationship. Since then, she and her children have had to relocate several times.<\/p>\n

She said leaving hasn\u2019t been easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assistance was not available, so it was because of programs like Nancy\u2019s, so I applied for medical benefits for my children and I, food stamps,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She was talking about Nancy Hernandez, who founded Mujeres Restauradas Por Dios<\/a> stepped in to help. The Christian\u00a0nonprofit\u00a0offers support for domestic violence survivors by connecting them to resources to get help.<\/p>\n

It also offers\u00a0food assistance, medical and\u00a0psychological\u00a0resources and leadership development. <\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve seen 50 to 60 women a month, a lot of women \u2014 some have had to leave the city, and others are here working and have picked up the pieces,” Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

For LaDue, it\u2019s been a blessing,\u00a0and she decided to\u00a0share her journey on social media.<\/p>\n

“I have only faith, no fear, that I will be heard that my story must be shared to help save countless souls,” she said.<\/p>\n

She hopes her message encourages others struggling with domestic violence to seek help.<\/p>\n

The Light It Up for domestic violence awareness event is taking place Thursday in front of Tampa City Hall at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and in Tampa Bay, one organization is working to shine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1011,2967,274,276,1190,6076,115,277,135,137,136,278,2032,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-5534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-app-human-interest","9":"tag-app-public-safety","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-hillsborough-county","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-public-safety","16":"tag-tampa","17":"tag-tampa-headlines","18":"tag-tampa-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-trending-topics","21":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}