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DOWAGIAC — During the month of October, several Pokagon citizens participated in the “Love Shouldn’t Hurt: Domestic Violence Awareness Beading Challenge,” which was a collaboration between Pokagon Social Service and the Department of Language and Culture to help raise awareness for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. 

Domestic violence affects millions of people including both women and men of every race, religion, culture and status, officials said.  Domestic violence does not just include hitting and punching, it is also a variety of other behaviors including yelling, humiliation, stalking, manipulation, threats and isolation.

Four out of five Native American women will experienced violence in their lifetime, and more than half of Native American women have endured physical violence from an intimate partner, according to the Pokagon Band. 

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are victims of physical violence by a partner every year.  Every nine seconds, a woman in the U.S. is beaten or assaulted by a current or ex-significant other. One in four men are victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner.

Participants of Beading Challenge were asked to complete the following steps:

• Watch a video showing how to bead, which also contains different domestic violence facts and information

• Use a supplied template to create their own ribbon

• Bead their ribbon, then bead or embellish the background

• Email their design to Samantha Hickok, Samantha.Hickok@PokagonBand-nsn.gov and also share a photo of it on Facebook

Winners are as follows:

First place: Myriah Williams

Second place: Adela Galvan

Third place: Amanda Galvan

Fourth place: Jacqulyn Robinson