 October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and it's also when the Mid-Minnesota Women's Center hosts their annual fundraiser called Luminating Life. The Mid-Minnesota Women's Center was founded in 1978 and provides 24-hour intake to emergency shelter for individuals experiencing domestic violence. The shelter serves women and their children, men and even pets. And they also provide advocacy, information and referral services as well as support groups. It's important because when somebody is in need and they don't feel like they have anywhere else to go, they're able to come to us and we can help them with what they need. Right now we have approximately 26 beds that are full at our shelter and that's almost the case all the time. The Luminating Life fundraiser was held at the Luminary Fern in the Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd tonight. All of the proceeds from the event went towards the shelter which served 904 individuals from the area last quarter alone. Those funds will allow us to continue doing what it is that we're doing. We need those to keep our doors open. We do receive a grant from OJP from the state of Minnesota and that accounts for approximately 70% of our expense budget which means every year we try to raise approximately $400,000 to kind of close that gap. The shelter will hold a candlelight vigil for the lives lost to domestic violence at Kiwanis Park in Brainerd next Tuesday, October 16th. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.