An entire week without violence in the Ames community is the goal of next week’s YWCA program.

Judy Dolphin of the YWCA said the purpose of the week is to see if “we can go a whole week in our community without violence.” A “Week Without Violence” will be from Oct. 6 through the 12.

Jeannie Higgs, also of the YWCA, said the week is a complete national boycott of any violent acts. Not just participating in them but also viewing them.

This week was started last year as a part of a national movement to increase the awareness of how prevalent violence is in our society, Dolphin said.

One way the YWCA and other supporters of this week are going to try to increase awareness, she said, is through a graffiti board that will be located in the Memorial Union at the bottom of the steps near the west door.

The purpose of this board is to have people write their personal stories down and leave memorabilia to “make them public,” she said.

On Sunday night at 5 p.m. the week will start with a “Symbol of Violence.”

The symbol, a wrecked car, will be parked on Union Drive in front of the Memorial Union fountain.

Dolphin said, “the car symbolizes all of the ways violence is connected with our society,” including drunk driving, rape, kidnapping, murder and drive-by shootings.

There will also be a speech by Ralph Rosenberg, a former Iowa house representative, concerning legislation he passed to reduce violence.

On Wednesday at noon there will be a panel of four to six Cyclone athletes who will explore the topic of physical contact sports and off the field aggression.