President of the Family Support Network (FSN) is pleading with church leaders to join the fight against Domestic Violence. Photo: VINO

The FSN commended the Seventh Day Adventist churches in the VI for its recent rally against violence against women and girls, which was held under the theme “End It Now”. The rally formed part of a weekend campaign of the Women’s Ministry Department of the Seventh Day Adventists of the Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO

This was told to a large gathering of persons by President of the Family Support Network (FSN) Ms Judith Charles, at the recently held rally against violence against women and girls under the theme “End It Now”, which formed part of a weekend campaign of the Women’s Ministry Department of the Seventh Day Adventists of the Virgin Islands.

Giving a background of the FSN, Ms Charles said they first got started in the St. George’s Anglican Church in 1989 and over the years the churches were involved in the development of the organization. She noted that FSN would move from the Anglican Church to the Methodist Church. “And from the Methodist Church we went to the offices where we are now. We have a very small staff; we have always reached out to organizations and government agencies for support because the people we work for are the victims of domestic violence.”

The FSN President said that over the years the support for the FSN from the churches fell apart and as such she was extremely pleased to have been part of the march to end violence against women and children. Ms Charles said that for the eight years she has been President of the Family Support Network, the Rally put on by the Seventh Day Adventists of the Virgin Islands has been the largest and most impressive of two held.

“I came at the invitation of Gloria Fahie, she sent me a Facebook invitation so I came to march and I marched with the staff of the Family Support Network and I marched with some of our volunteers,” while sticking in that the people who work at FSN are “phenomenal women”.

Poverty exacerbating Domestic Violence in VI

The issue of violence, Ms Charles said, is unbelievable when examining the number of persons FSN sees on a daily basis, listening to persons dark and unhappy stories, and while providing various levels of counselling and support. “Now-a-days it’s not just domestic violence that we are working with but its poverty, poverty is exacerbating the violence, it’s making it worse. 

The FSN also assists with the provision of food and clothing for those in dire need and for which two churches have been supporting with the provision of food. “The society of St. Vincent the Paul and St. Williams Catholic Church in giving us food and at Christmas gifts for the children and for the victims, and now we have the New Testament church.”

The invitation to Family Support Network to participate in the march heralds a new level of support and “I am quite frankly going to say to you, and I hope that you will accept it in the thirst in which I give it, welcome Seventh Day Adventist Church to this fight, to this advocacy,” said Ms Charles. The statement was met with loud rounds of applause.