NORWICH – Catholic Charities of Chenango County is building awareness in the community about domestic violence and the affect it has on individuals and families in and beyond the local community.

On Thursday, Catholic Charities employees donned purple, the color synonymous with domestic violence nationwide. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a month centered around raising awareness of relationship violence. Hopes were to draw more attention to the issue while showing that there is support for victims in need.

“Statistics show that about one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime,” said April Conant, an employee of Catholic Charities of Chenango County. “We wore purple just to raise that awareness.”

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), one in five women have been severely physically abused. An average of 20 people in the United States are physically abused by intimate partners every minute. This equates to more than 10 million abuse victims annually.