Empty Chair Display

honoring our loved ones

The Tragic Side of Domestic Violence

We started an Empty Chair Project in 2018 to raise public awareness of domestic violence homicides in Iowa. Each year more chairs are added to the display as more people lose their lives to domestic violence. The Empty Chair Display is available at the Centre Mall in Sioux Center, Iowa, every year during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. The display is typically shown Monday-Friday during the last full week of October.

More Than An Empty Chair

More Than An Empty Chair is a piece of this project that seeks to honor the memories of victims. We want to share their light with the rest of the world and acknowledge that they are not forgotten. We invited families who have lost a loved one to domestic violence to share a picture of their loved one, as well as a small write-up about them, to be placed in the display. Our hope is that this is a small way we can help honor loved ones and remember them each year.

Learn how you can Fill A Chair with Hope below.

Fill A Chair with Hope

Each empty chair in our display represents an Iowan lost to domestic violence—a life stolen too soon. But with your help, these chairs become more than a memorial. They become symbols of hope.

When you give, you Fill a Chair with Hope—supporting critical services like safe housing, advocacy, and healing for survivors still fighting for safety. Each $25 gift helps honor a life lost and bring hope to someone still at risk. Fill as many as you’d like.

Be part of the change. Fill a Chair with Hope now.

Thank you for standing with us—and with every survivor.

Tribute Wall: Honoring Those Who Give Hope

Each name on this Tribute Wall represents a commitment to honoring those lost to domestic violence and supporting the survivors still fighting for safety.