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Friday afternoon’s Beaman Home Guardian Angel fundraising luncheon in the Westminster Room at Grace College saw Mary Ellen Mann deliver a powerful speech in which she drew upon her own experiences to express the importance of raising awareness for domestic abuse. The event was geared towards raising both funds and awareness as the Beaman Home moves towards the construction of its new facility.

Mann was introduced by Rebecca Kubacki, who opened the event by stating, “Thank you to the staff here, it looks beautiful. It is a sensitive topic, but when you look around the room here you are hopeful.” She then gave a powerful account of how domestic violence had affected her own childhood. Mann picked up right where Kubacki left off, telling the tale of an upper class girl who began to feel the wrath of her abusive father at the tender age of seven. She detailed how her father had held her by her hair and made her “drink from the toilet bowl after forgetting to flush.”

She explained that the same girl had grown up to enter an abusive marriage with a husband who shouted at her and frightened her. Upon her request for a trial separation period, the husband turned her entire church against her, saying that she was disrespecting God and religion.

Mann ultimately revealed that the girl that she had described was actually her. She explained that she is now in a happy marriage but that it took her 10 years to completely trust her current husband due to the pain that had been inflicting upon her in the past. The parents of Mann’s current husband, Warsaw native Ty Mann, were in attendance and were moved to tears by the speech. Mann explained that though very sad, her story is not uncommon, as 67 percent of individuals who were abused as children find themselves in abusive partnerships as adults.

Grilled chicken salad, desert pastries, coffee and tea were served to those in attendance.