So far, they estimate that 200 of them have been taken. Everything else is handled by volunteers. But a few months after the books started disappearing from doctors' waiting rooms, the victims began to come forward. Sometimes, they brought the hijacked texts with highlighted passages. Now, as many as a dozen domestic violence victims meet regularly in semi-secret to talk about coping with the abuse.
Organizers say they are stunned by their success.
But we have gone to extreme lengths to protect people's confidentiality. Instead of advice, community members are being taught to lend a sympathetic ear and to encourage women to meet with a counselor. At every turn, the emphasis is on coping with the abuse and preparing an emergency plan, organizers say, because women in the area are much less likely to seek help if they think they will be told to flee. And it has paid off. Root recalls one woman who grabbed her business card from a local video store and carried it for months until her husband exploded into a violent rage.