October 18, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Good weather, heartbreaking tales kick off walk
by PETE MAZZACCARO

Children helped round out the 250 people who participated in the First Annual Walk Against Domestic Violence. The walk helped raise more than $2,000 for Lutheran Settlement House. (Photo by Erin Vertreace)

Beautiful autumn weather — sunny and in the 60s — greeted approximately 250 people who converged on Chestnut Hill’s Fountain Plaza on the 8700 block of Germantown Avenue to don purple T-shirts and walk two miles to raise funds for and awareness of domestic violence prevention.

The walk, a trip down and back up Chestnut Hill’s stretch of Germantown Avenue, was sponsored by the Chestnut Hill Business Association, Chestnut Hill Community Association, 3000 BC spa in Chestnut Hill and Chestnut Hill Village apartments as part of the Lutheran Settlement House’s Purple Ribbon Campaign against domestic violence. The event is the first of a planned annual event.

Those assembled included women, children and men of every age. Local politicians, including City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, State Senator LeAnna Washington and Republican mayoral hopeful Al Taubenburger, mingled with the crowd. News personalities Larry Mendte, Dawn Stensland and Dawn Timoney were also there to support the cause.

But before the cheery group could begin the two-mile procession, led by Settlement House staffers with big bunches of purple balloons, participants were reminded of the grim realities their efforts were seeking to alleviate.

That reality was relayed by two guests who spoke at a pre-walk press conference. The speakers Rayna Gray and Kathleen Bonanno both recounted their harrowing experiences with domestic violence.

Gray spoke first, recounting a relationship with a man who began abusing her physically and mentally after just six months. She eventually sought counseling from Lutheran Settlement House and is currently married and happily employed, she said.

“I prayed for courage,” Gray said. “When I got the courage, I called Lutheran Settlement House. I learned that [domestic violence] can end — I could take my life back.”

Bonanno’s daughter, Leidy Bonanno, a young Oreland woman who had worked at Caruso’s Market in Chestnut Hill and had attended Bishop McDevitt High School, was murdered in her West Reading apartment on July 6, 2003, by an estranged boyfriend. The 21-year-old was a nursing student at the time.

Bonanno said she often wondered what might have happened if her daughter had made the decision to seek help. She said she knew her daughter’s failure to report how controlling her boyfriend had become was not an indictment of her character but a common problem for women without the support and information they need.

“Breaking up is hard to do,” she said, recalling the adage. “Sometimes breaking up can be fatal. If [Leidy] had known that, maybe she could have had a plan.

“My message for all you funny, smart, independent women is, if you have a whisper of a doubt, call Lutheran Settlement House, or another organization that can help, so that your story turns out different from my story.”