READING, Pa. – A sea of red silhouettes moved through downtown Reading on Tuesday as Safe Berks marked its 25th annual Silent Witness March, honoring people who have lost their lives to domestic violence and raising awareness about abuse.<\/p>\n
The march began at Safe Berks headquarters and continued to Reading Area Community College, bringing together families and community members to remember loved ones and support survivors.<\/p>\n
For Kayla Kelly, the event was an opportunity to honor her uncle, Billy Kelly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was murdered by his wife this past December,\u201d Kayla said.<\/p>\n
Walking alongside Kayla is her husband and a family friend. Kayla said she wanted to preserve her uncle\u2019s memory while reminding others that domestic violence can affect anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here today to keep his legacy going on and to also let it be known that men can be victims of domestic violence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The red silhouettes represent lives lost to domestic violence in Berks County since 1999. According to Safe Berks CEO Beth Garrigan, 96 people have been killed during that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity for them to really honor their loved ones and to be around other people who are experiencing that same hurt and that same pain,\u201d Garrigan said.<\/p>\n
Seven silhouettes were added to this year\u2019s march, including one honoring Billy Kelly, who was killed in December in Kutztown.<\/p>\n
For Kayla Kelly, seeing other families share their stories helped ease the sense of isolation that can come with grief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came here today kind of feeling lost, kind of really emotionally drained,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd seeing everyone else and their stories and just the plaques and the families, it just makes you feel less alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Anna Merced and her family, the march marked their third year honoring the memory of her husband and their father, Tomas Medina. He was shot and killed by his son at Locust and Greenwich streets in Reading.<\/p>\n
Merced said her family will continue to honor his life and keep his memory alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a huge heart. We will continue to keep his name alive, and we will walk this until the end,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Beyond remembering those who have died, the march also serves as a reminder of the importance of speaking up about domestic violence, whether someone is experiencing abuse or witnessing it.<\/p>\n
Garrigan said Safe Berks offers free, confidential services around the clock and encouraged people to share that information with others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"READING, Pa. – A sea of red silhouettes moved through downtown Reading on Tuesday as Safe Berks marked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3783,349,2347,5835,8589,736,128,130,129,20652,125563,268,11413],"class_list":["post-306086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-awareness","tag-berks-county","tag-community-support","tag-domestic-violence","tag-memorial","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-safe-berks","tag-silent-witness-march","tag-survivors","tag-victims"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}