A local organization honors the victims of crime this week
Eduardo Morales
This week is National Crime Victim’s Week, and a local organization honored those victims in a ceremony.
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The Yuma County Victim’s Rights committee put on a dinner to honor the victims of crimes and those who advocate for them.
This includes Yumas own Miss Yuma County Mone-Asia Bowman.
“It’s okay not to be okay,” said Bowman.
The event took place at the Yuma Main Library’s Garden Area.
As a survivor of abuse herself, Bowman shares why it is important for people like her to speak out.
“Some of these people may feel as if, ‘Oh, I’m alone, and ‘they don’t see the success stories,’ and ‘they need to see the success stories so they know if she can do it, I can do it. If they can do it, I can do it,’ so that’s the biggest thing with the representation out here,” said Bowman.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2023, 6.4 million violent victimizations of people aged 12 or older occurred in the United States.
City Council member and member of the Victims Rights Committee Mark Martinez shares why it is also important to support another group.
“You know, they’re behind the scenes. There’s a lot of people that don’t know what they do, they do so much so we need to support our advocates for the work that they do for their mental health, for their physical health,” said Martinez.
Miss Yuma County also includes the families for those victims as well.
“It’s also about their families. Unfortunately, everyone is negatively impacted by a lot of these things,” said Bowman.
Bowman also has some advice for those that are currently victims and are afraid to speak out.
“I would definitely recommend finding someone that they trust. Someone that they know that they can vent to, someone that isn’t going to report back to the person that is doing the harm to them, someone that’s going to keep them safe at all times,” said Bowman.
The week highlighting these victims continues through Saturday.
If you or anyone you know is a victim you can always reach out to one of the local advocates, such as Amberly’s Place and the Healing Journey.