Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Kim Carrell, Victims Services director for the YWCA women’s shelter, and Dawn Berryman light up the night with their candles Monday.

The YWCA’s annual “Take Back the Night” program celebrated survivors of domestic violence Monday.

To show the extent of the problem of spousal abuse, Jean Brown, the YWCA’s executive director, said that in 2000 the agency’s shelter and staff served an average of 11 people each day.

“By 2007, that number had grown to 45 per day and the demand for services continues,” Mrs. Brown said.

Last year, the St. Joseph Police Department answered more than 2,500 calls involving abuse, she said.

In Missouri last year, more than 8,000 victims of abuse were turned away because shelters were full, Mrs. Brown said. For St. Joseph, the good news is that so far, the YWCA shelter never turns a victim away, she said.

About 40 people Monday came to listen to the story of one survivor. The woman stood up and calmly told her story of living with psychological abuse and three failed attempts to strike out on her own before succeeding the fourth time.

“He didn’t allow me to love myself or anyone else,” she said.

While her story wasn’t about physical assault, the stress of living with psychological abuse had its toll, she said. Before the fourth attempt to leave, she found herself in what looked like an unending cycle of hospitalizations due to stress. Since leaving, she hasn’t had to return to a hospital.

“I had to learn to trust myself,” the survivor said. “Nothing I do gives anyone the right to abuse me. So I choose to be a survivor.”

She received a spontaneous standing ovation at the end of her presentation. To protect the woman, the YWCA didn’t release her name and asked that her image not be used by the media.

Chordtime, a barbershop quartet consisting of Fred Hangartner, David Webb, Ed Witham and Don Ransom, provided a musical interlude during the celebration.

The Rev. Krista Kiger, First Presbyterian Church, closed the event with a poem asking when compassion will be wedded to power.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall@npgco.com.