RICHMOND, Va. -- Empowering girls and women to use their voices to speak up is what a Richmond mother is working to accomplish after losing her daughter to domestic violence.
Shirley Scarborough shared through tears how she is working to make that mission a reality at a workshop in her daughter's honor on Saturday in Richmond.
“I forgive you for the hurt, pain, disruption and chaos you have caused me,” Scarborough said about the man she said murdered her daughter.
Scarborough poured out her heart as she shared all the emotions she has felt since April 2020 when her daughter Francesca was killed.
She acknowledged that while she has found forgiveness, she still questions why he killed her and how his conscience allowed him to take her life.
To get through the pain, she has channeled it into planning and executing an annual domestic violence prevention workshop for young girls and women in Central Virginia.
Scarborough said that way she can continue her daughter's legacy and help other women build confidence, which she said Francesca struggled with.
“She will rise," Scarborough said. "My healing will come through each lady that will overcome abuse and each lady who survives abuse and sparing a mother the nightmare and pain I have felt."
Her nonprofit, Cry Loud,hosted its annual "I Am Enough I Know My Worth Conference" at the Boys and Girls Teen Center on Creighton Road.
The conference was designed to have workshops on healing, resilience and forgiveness. Community resources and counseling services were also provided.
Speakers shared messages of hope and how people will listen even when they think no one cares.
One in four women experience physical abuse by their partner, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
And more than 20,000 calls are placed daily to national domestic violence hotlines, according to the group.
It is statistics like those and stories like Francesca’s that Scarborough said fuels her mission.
She is hopeful that sharing her daughter's story can not only save lives but help give women the courage to speak up.
“Just being at this conference today, her story is being told," one speaker said. "She is not here to tell her story but her mom is.”
Click here for some local resources on how to get help or here for some national resources.
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