Domestic violence is an issue that often goes unspoken, but it touches millions of lives each year – including thousands here in Orange County.

This Wednesday, July 8, from 6-8 pm, the DSI Comedy Theater on W. Franklin Street is hosting the third annual “Martha’s Day” event to raise funds and awareness for the fight against domestic violence.

Organized by Laura Morrison, “Martha’s Day” is an annual event held in memory of Morrison’s mother, Martha Pearson, who was killed by her husband in 1995 at the age of 42. (Morrison was only nine.) July 8 was Pearson’s birthday – she would have been 62 this year.

Proceeds raised will go to benefit the Compass Center for Women and Families, which offers services for domestic violence victims and leads the fight against domestic violence here in our community. (Morrison is serving as board chair this year.)

The Compass Center serves about a thousand victims of domestic violence every year, just in our area – and Morrison says that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “Domestic violence doesn’t hurt its victims in a vacuum,” she writes on the Compass Center’s website. “Those victims are our friends; they are our family. They are our teachers, our co-workers, our employers. Domestic violence – and violence in general – has such a ripple effect; it touches so many people in so many different ways, and because we tend to avoid talking about it, we’re often unaware of how our community is shaped by violence.

“And that’s why these awareness-raising events and efforts are vital: it’s up to us as a community to start having difficult conversations and to start fixing a problem that ultimately touches all of us.”

WCHL’s Aaron Keck spoke with Laura Morrison.

 

Tickets for this year’s Martha’s Day event are $20, which includes a DSI Comedy show and a catered reception with food from Jersey Mike’s, the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, and Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe. (Vimala Rajendran has helped organize the Martha’s Day event from the beginning.)

Martha’s Day is sponsored by Molly Maid of Chapel Hill, DSI Comedy, A Better Image Printing, Ceremony Salon, Vinyl Perk, Flyleaf Books, and Local 506.

Visit compassctr.org/marthasday for tickets and more information.