By tomorrow, all those purple people around town will be gathered at Petkovich Park at the corner of Broadway and Water streets in downtown Jackson for what organizers hope will be an emotional display highlighting the toll of domestic violence.

With October nationally recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the volunteers and staff at Operation Care mounted an ambitious outreach campaign they hoped the public would be unable to ignore. During the past few weeks, they placed 35 life-size purple silhouettes of women, children and men have been placed at various locations throughout Amador County. Each one came with its own, real life story, contributed by advocates, clients and survivors who have dealt with domestic violence. One woman's silhouette says: "I am ... a 30-year-old woman / Everyone loves my husband / He has lots of friends / At home he calls me names and has choked me / I tried to tell my family / They told me I was crazy, that it is my fault / I am ... so confused."

Other, similar stories of women, men and children are depicted on the silhouettes. Operation Care staff and volunteers prepared the display to raise awareness about the impacts of domestic violence in the local community.

"Placing all of the silhouettes in one location has a dramatic effect. We hope to show that domestic violence affects everyone in the community by using stories of real people and real situations," said Tammie Crabtree, program manager for Operation Care. "As an advocate, I see the effects abuse has on the children, families, friends and co-workers of the abused, and the cost to our community in medical, social and mental health services, and law enforcement costs. Domestic violence affects our entire community."

One out of four adult women are victims of domestic violence at some point in their lifetimes; men can be victims as well. Domestic violence can include the use or threat of using physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse with the intent of controlling someone by instilling fear and using intimidation.

The silhouettes will be displayed at Sutter Amador Hospital's Health Festival on Friday, Oct. 24 and throughout the weekend. The individual stories and statistics are also posted on Operation Care's Web site at www.operationcare.org/purple.

"We are excited to have such an impactful display this year. In the past, we promoted the purple ribbon campaign, and we wanted to expand on that this year with real life stories," said Lynn Shield, executive director of Operation Care. "If you read the stories of these women, children and men, you will likely recognize some of the types of hurt that people experience. I encourage everyone to visit the display and take a moment to honor survivors and to have the courage to speak up against domestic violence."

Those who need help can dial 911 or call the 24-hour crisis line at 223-2600. Operation Care provides safe shelter for women, men and children, as well as counseling, support services, crisis intervention and education. For more information, call 223-2897.