By Joey McWilliams
DURANT – Members of the Texoma Board of Realtors showed their recognition for Domestic Violence Awareness Month on Thursday, wearing purple and displaying big purple bows.
But they went further than just their appearance, presenting a donation to the Durant Crisis Center, as well.
Renea Roberts, president of the board, was among the group on hand to give a check to Norita Walker, the executive director of the Crisis Center.
“Realtors are getting behind the Crisis Center to help with a small donation and showing our support by having these purple ribbons placed on our business,” Roberts said. “I believe that people across town will be able to see that and recognize what is going on.”
Walker said she was grateful for the donation and spoke about the realtors being wonderful people to get together for such a cause during this time.
“October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and we’ve been doing activities all month so far and will continue,” Walker said. “And we appreciate these people that give to the victims of domestic violence.”
Another one of the board members on hand, Paige Scott, said awareness is a factor that is something close to home among her fellow realtors.
“One of our fellow realtors, Tascha Bond, is part of this board of realtors and is a survivor of domestic violence and that’s a cause important to her and so it’s on the radar of many realtors,” Scott said.
“We have a very public presence with what we do as realtors, and so often the Crisis Center does wonderful things, but we may not know all they do because of confidentiality. So we want to take our public presence togive a nod, not only to what they do and what they’re trying to prevent, but also to that community of survivors and folks recovering to those situations currently.
“This was a first-year effort to have the bows in front of the brokerages, but hopefully you’ll see an even bigger presence from us next year with purple on our signs of listings throughout the Texoma area.”
Purple is national color for Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Walker said her group has done its part to paint the town purple.
“We put purple downtown,” Walker said. “We’ve wrapped lights downtown on Main Street and on Market Square. Everybody wears purple and especially on Thursdays during the month. Any kind of awareness to get out the word that domestic violence is a crime.”
Anyone wanting to contribute to the Crisis Center in its efforts can do so and Walker said it is welcomed.
“We accept volunteers,” Walker said. They can come by our office, which is located behind Salita’s Mexican Restaurant, that is open to the public. They can come by and pick up an application and volunteer.
“Monetary or in-kind donations, clothing, shoes, money – we always take money – we appreciate it all.”
The shelter location is confidential because of the safety of the victims. But the public office is located at 115-C N. 12th Ave. in Durant and can be reached by phone at (580) 924-3030.