SAN ANTONIO --
One night in 2008, Allen Thomas got a phone call that his mother, Linda Shaw-Thomas, was in the hospital, the victim of a savage attack.
His father had stabbed his ex-wife 20 times.
By the time Thomas arrived at the hospital, his mother was dead.
"The last memory I had of my mother is seeing her body laying there with 20 holes in her chest," an emotional Thomas told the audience at Thursday's eighth annual Peace Breakfast.
Thomas was keynote speaker for the event at the Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club, presented by the Sunrise of Pasco County Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center.
"As I stood over my mother's dead body, I knew that there had to be something I could do so that another child, another family, another home wouldn't have to go through what I did," Thomas said.
He eventually founded Operation Freedom NC, a community-based domestic violence and prevention organization.
But Thomas told the breakfast audience that he first became educated about domestic violence.
"I learned that 500,000 women are admitted to emergency rooms every year because of domestic violence-related injuries," he said, adding that more than 10,000 women have been killed by their partners since 2001.
Thomas encouraged staff members, officials, community members and supporters of Sunrise to "keep doing what you're doing. Keep being there for people who have no voice."
Thomas' sentiments were echoed by a former client of Sunrise.
The woman, who was identified only by her first name, Sheila, said she was battered, verbally abused and threatened by her ex-husband.
She and her three young sons sought refuge at Sunrise.
"This shelter made me feel safe," she said. "Sunrise gave me back the self-respect that my ex-husband spent so many years destroying."
Larry Reidt, children's counselor at Sunrise, emphasized the importance of educating youngsters to respect themselves and others, and to look for signs of potential trouble in their own relationships.
"We at Sunrise are there for families who don't have anyone else to talk to because one of the first things that an abuser will do is isolate the victim from their support system of friends and family," Reidt said.
"We always tell teenage girls that if a boy says, 'It's me or your friends,' always pick the friends," he said.
State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, was the master of ceremonies for the annual breakfast.
He said that there were 6,477 incidences of domestic violence in Pasco in 2010, two of which were fatal.
"That's two too many," he said.
Weatherford encouraged guests to remember domestic violence victims during the holidays.
"For most people, this is a time of joy and giving back," he said. "Yet for some, it is a time of anguish and suffering. And for more than 28 years, Sunrise has given these victims the comfort, counseling, legal advocacy and shelter they need."
Sheila, the survivor, agreed.
"Your donation to Sunrise could save a woman's life," she said.
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