Tuesday, September 16, 2025–10:50 a.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the Hospitality House for Women is gearing up for its annual Walk A Mile in Her Shoes event.

Community members are invited to walk down Broad Street in women’s shoes to shed light on the fact that you can never understand a person’s situation until you’ve walked in their shoes.

The event is at Rotary Plaza on October 4, which is a Saturday.

“It has typically been on a Friday, around lunchtime,” said Krystal Raines, Executive Director of Hospitality House. “We just felt like that limited a lot of participation. So, we moved it to a Saturday this year. We are trying to have more activities. So, we will have kid-friendly activities, food trucks, and vendors. We are just making it more of a community engagement type of activity, and hopefully, more people can attend on a Saturday.”

There are four challengers participating in the walk, who are doing some fundraising and holding different activities to help bring awareness to the issue of domestic violence in Rome and Floyd County.

“We have Steven Taylor, and he’s the Director of Alumni Relations at Darlington,” Raines said. “We have Kristen Whatley, who is the owner of Lotus Skin + Brow in Rome. There’s Shaylan Johnson, owner of Blooming Oak Photography, and then Ashley Hamby, who is with Rome City Schools. She is an agriculture education teacher at Rome Middle School.”

For more information, visit hospitalityhouseforwomen.org or the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Facebook page.