RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) –The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office Victim Specialists and Wavi are teaming up with local coffee shops this October.
Their goal is spreading awareness on domestic violence and letting victims know that they are not alone.
Cups at area coffee shops will come with custom messages on the sleeves.
“So all the coffee sleeves will have information about who it affects, to love shouldn’t hurt, that there’s no excuse for abuse. So some of those sayings,” WAVI Case Manager Ruth Torala said.
Pure Bean, Harriett & Oak, Essence of Coffee, Alternative Fuels, Dunn Brothers Coffee and Home Brew are the six shops taking part.
“That’s the purpose, you sit and chat with people. That’s where you go to spend some Sunday morning time and so by putting this message out on the coffee cups, then maybe we can start that conversation in the community. Even if just a couple people start talking about it to try and end that cycle or at least get the message out,” PCSO Victim Specialist Rebecca Elger said.
Nearly three out of ten women and one out of ten men experience some sort of domestic violence in the United States.
“And that we don’t always necessarily know what’s happening in someone’s personal life and to start that conversation and to create a dialog about what’s happening in the community that affects everyone of us,” Torala said.
“The more that people are willing to stand up as a community and say we won’t tolerate this, we are going to see an increase in some of those reports. Because the community itself has said, not going to happen in my community and that’s what we want when we started this conversation in the coffee shop. For the community to say, it’s not ok,” Elger said.
The more this conversation gets normalized, the more victims it could help.
The special coffee sleeves will be given to customers starting in October at all six locations.
