Spotlight: Connie Laws
As an eight-year-old, Connie Laws helplessly watched as her father physically abused her mother.
Those scenes, she said, contributed to a "very lonely" childhood.
"I couldn't share my situation with anyone," said Laws. "Back then, people didn't talk about domestic violence. So I actually thought domestic violence was normal and a part of every family's life."
Studies show that the scenes Laws experienced as a child are all too common. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice, one in four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime.
Now, a team leader in Sales at Verizon, Laws volunteers as a domestic abuse hotline counselor with Women's Resources of Monroe County (WRMC), a Pennsylvania nonprofit organization that provides victims of domestic violence and sexual assault with free resources to overcome their situations.
Laws has volunteered with WRMC since July 2004, and has already donated more than 200 hours of her time as a counselor - not including the intensive 70-hour training course she took.
Laws, a mother of two young men, ages 21 and 26, said she gladly donates her time to the WRMC hoping to help others avoid the situation she endured in her youth.
"My real-life experience gives me the ability to truly empathize with the individuals who call the domestic violence hotline," she said, "I want people to know they don't have to go through what I went through. I feel fortunate to be alive and in a position to help those who are experiencing domestic violence."
Reflecting on the challenges she faced early in life, Laws said volunteering with WRMC has taught her to be thankful for what she went through because it has allowed her to make the lives of others easier and safer.
"After all," she said: "We tend to forget that life is about service and giving back to the community."
