As October came to a close, so did the Plateau area’s drive for domestic violence awareness.

The campaign, organized by Enumclaw’s Linking Your Neighborhood with Caring, Compassion and Kindness organization, started Oct. 1 at City Hall with a gathering.

Throughout the month of October, local businesses displayed purple lights and silhouettes with statistics in downtown windows. The city of Enumclaw participated by stringing purple lights along Cole Street.

The “purple light nights,” the symbol for domestic violence awareness, was started by local resident Victoria Throm and has spread across the nation.

Throm is a member of the Covington Domestic Violence Task Force, founder of Purple Light Nights, and a domestic violence survivor. Her goal is to break the cycle of silence and violence.

According to 2010 statistics from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, since 1997, 755 people have lost their lives to domestic violence in Washington state. That number includes 44 children. This summer, Enumclaw added two more adults to those numbers.

Throm introduced Pur-ple Light Nights to draw attention to domestic violence by encouraging residents and business owners to place purple lights on their doorsteps and windows during the month of October to bring light to the issue.

In four years, she has seen the program grow to include 23 states and three Canadian providences.

To locate domestic violence resources, visit the AskFLIN website at www.askflin.com.