Twenty-two women. Ten children. Three other family members or friends.

Those are the numbers of people in Minnesota who died last year as a result of domestic violence.

As part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, area residents from all walks of life gathered Thursday to remember those who have gone before or who may still be victims of domestic violence during a candlelight vigil.

“Domestic violence is not a private family matter,” Albert Lea Police Lt. Jeff Strom said. “For effective social change, the community needs to become more involved.”

During the event, residents met at the Freeborn County Government Center to retrieve lighted candles and then walked down Broadway Avenue to the Fountain Lake Park gazebo.

Locally, Strom said, domestic violence is the most frequent crime in town. Calls for service average about one call per day — with about 350 calls for incidents related to domestic violence and more than 200 calls for harassment coming in during 2007.

And it affects the entire community, he said.

Survivor Melany Gold spoke about overcoming domestic abuse in her own life, and other survivors shared their experiences.

Gold, who used to live in Albert Lea, said she never thought she would personally be affected by domestic violence. She had two college degrees and was working on a third. But it subtly crept into her and her then-husband’s relationship and the relationship with their four children, she said.

She used to work with women who were victims of domestic violence, and she couldn’t understand why these women would take back their abusive husbands, she said.

But it was something she started to do herself when her husband became abusive. After violent episodes there would be lots of tears and remorse, and she would go back to him, Gold explained.

“Tonight I’m grateful my name and my children’s names are not on these socks,” she said.

Around the gazebo there were socks hanging that correlated with the number of people killed last year by domestic violence.

Gold described domestic violence as “a darkness that started to touch every part of my life.”

Eventually, she became part of the victim protection program and moved out of Albert Lea, even though many people told her she was crazy for leaving all of her resources behind to become a single mother of four.

Since, she said, it’s been a journey watching her children come out of the shell they were in.

Every time she comes to Albert Lea, she still gets anxiety and still feels like she has to look over her shoulder.

“It’s the darkest thing I’ve ever experienced or touched,” Gold said. “But today, I’m free.”

During an open-microphone period that followed, a few other survivors shared their stories as well.

Afterward, a flower was thrown into Fountain Lake for each person who died in Minnesota last year as a result of domestic violence. Attendants watched in silence as the flowers landed in the water and then slowly began moving downstream.

At the end of the program, people in attendance read aloud a pledge of nonviolence.

It read: “I have been a positive — but silent — example of what it means to be nonviolent. Today — for myself, my family and my loved ones — I am speaking up. I pledge that I will not be silent about, commit or condone domestic violence. I pledge that I will teach my children about healthy, nonviolent relationships. I pledge that I will act to make a difference in my home and my community.”

In attendance to show their support were Albert Lea Mayor Randy Erdman, a representative from U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office and several members of local law enforcement.

This is the fourth year for the candlelight vigil in Freeborn County. It was put on by the Freeborn County Crime Victim’s Crisis Center, with the help of Circle of Parents, the Hugs Council, the Nancy VanderWaerdt State Farm Insurance Agency and Hy-Vee.