30th annual ‘Take Back the Night’ rally held in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thursday night, the 30th annual Take Back the Night March and Rally was held in downtown Wilmington.

The event works to raise awareness about the issue of domestic violence, while empowering survivors.

Things kicked off with a march through the streets of downtown Wilmington at 7:00 p.m., and then a rally at the Harrelson Center.

Andrea Stough, who helped organize the event, says the first step to addressing the issue is to simply talk about it and keep that conversation going.

“You see a lot of people bringing their kids and making it okay to talk about this issue,” Stough said. “As a community, we have our resiliency task force happening, and we’re all coming together and talking about average childhood experiences, and how it has lifelong impacts on health. And one of those big experiences is growing up in a house where there’s violence and abuse.”

This year’s theme was “Shine Your Light” meaning despite obstacles and challenges we face, we can still find hope.