Above: Southborough resident Jim Shay camps out in downtown Southborough to bring awareness to family violence
Six years ago Southborough resident Jim Shay spent his first overnight camped out on the corner of Routes 30 and 85. This year he’ll do it again in what has become an annual vigil against family violence.
Drive through downtown Southborough today and you’ll see Shay in his lawn chair sitting next to six bright-red wood cutouts of female figures. “They represent the six murdered domestic violence victims in Worcester County last year,” Shay said. Stop and visit Shay at his vigil, and you can read the story of each of the victims taped to the silhouettes.
One was a mother of two from Westborough. Another a mother from Shrewsbury. Shay says he hopes his vigil will prevent more deaths.
“Hopefully people will see what I’m doing here and get some help,” he said.
A 12-year Southborough resident, Shay serves on the board of directors of the Framingham-based South Middlesex Opportunity Council. He said 80% of those in the non-profit’s shelter system have been the victims of some kind of assault, much of it domestic. “It speaks to the level of violence in our society,” Shay said.
Shay plans to sit out on the busy corner in downtown Southborough for 24 hours to help raise awareness. His 11-year-old daughter will join him this year for the first time. (Don’t worry, should the severe weather predicted for this afternoon actually materialize, Shay says they’ll take refuge in the Community House until it passes.)
“I do this for a lot of reasons,” Shay said. “People who are living in fear shouldn’t be living in fear … Just because we live in sleepy little Southborough doesn’t mean it can’t happen here. We know it happens here.”
