Group prepares transition residence

Nelson County

Within weeks, doors will open after a months long effort from multiple organizations to provide domestic violence victims in Nelson County with another resource closer to home.

According to Nelson County Domestic Violence Task Force President Marion Kanour, the group hopes to open its domestic violence transition house this month.

The house will become home to a man, woman or family who has been victimized by domestic violence and are ready to "go out on their own," according to Kanour.

"We're very excited, and the folks that we've been working with are so pleased that it's coming to fruition," Kanour said. "We think the county will benefit."

According to Kanour, the house will be a place for victims to get away from the toxic environment they once lived in and into a house that offers freedom to rebuild, especially in the cases of victims who "don't quite have the resources to make it" on their own.

As the project nears completion, with only minor touch-ups to be done on the house before someone can move in, Nelson County Victim Witness Advocate Beth Cunningham said the house will provide a nearby safe place for Nelson victims. In the past, all victims who choose to leave their current living situation would have to find shelter by driving miles north to Charlottesville or south to Lynchburg.

"The biggest reason why I want to have a transitional house is so that we can have services in Nelson County so that victims don't have to go to Charlottesville or to Lynchburg," she said. "It gives them another option to stay here in Nelson County. ... Anything that we can start to offer victims here is beneficial."

While there are no specific numbers for how many people in Nelson County annually are victims of domestic violence, Cunningham has said she helps about 180 crime victims per year. The majority, Cunningham has said, are domestic violence victims. According to a 2015 report from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, in 2012, 17,664 domestic violence crimes were reported to Virginia law enforcement.

Kanour said those who may benefit from moving into the house will be screened and chosen by a committee, as the building only can house one family at a time.

Cunningham said victims who move in would be considered "low risk" for future incidents.

According to Kanour, in addition to the Nelson County Domestic Violence Task Force, another group in the area has been instrumental in opening the house.

The group is known as Lockn' Festival Family, a coalition of hundreds of Lockn' Festival fans that communicate primarily through Facebook and keep in touch year round.

Following a domestic violence incident that left a member of the Lockn' Festival Family dead, the group knew it needed to do something to honor her memory, administrator April Foster said.

Foster explained the victim, who was a member of the group, planned to "miracle," or gift, her ticket to a stranger when she couldn't go to the concert in 2015 before she was involved in an altercation.

The West Virginia woman was shot by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide, news organizations reported.

"It was devastating for us, and we knew that something had to be done," said Justice Briand, a friend of the victim and member of Lockn 'Festival Family. "It was heart-wrenching and something that ate us from the inside out. ... We had to make [the transition house] happen."

Now, the group is hoping to increase awareness about domestic violence through the Aurora Fest - which plays off the victim's Facebook name that contained the name "Aurora" - a multi-day camping music festival in Amherst County that raises money for the Nelson County Domestic Violence Task Force and the transition house.

The group wanted to "turn something bad into something good," Foster said.

According to Briand, the group has raised about $4,000.

"We can all wish and dream that there was no such thing as domestic violence," Foster said, "but there is, and there always will be.

"Having a safe place for [victims] to go is huge; you never want anyone in that situation to think they don't have a place to go. ... Now, maybe more people would be apt to walk out of that situation."

MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about Aurora Fest, visit the festival's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Aurorafest2017 or email aurorafest2017@gmail.com. To contact the Nelson County Domestic Violence Task Force, email mkanour@gmail.com.