DMC Sponsors ‘Walk for Love’ in Support of New PFA Bill

Love. Shouldn’t. Hurt.

Those three words printed on a purple t-shirt conveyed a message of purpose yesterday at Settlers Cabin Park in Robinson Township.

About 1,000 people gathered for Alina’s Light “Walk for Love” in support of University of Pittsburgh student Alina Sheykhet who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend two years ago.

“I’m touched to my core,” Alina’s mother Elly Sheykhet said. “Friends, family, random people, I see so many people and unknown faces.”

People gathered in the county park to celebrate what would have been her 22nd birthday.

The walk raised money for two scholarships in her memory and her charity, Alina’s Light, which is aggressively pushing for a new bill to add electronic monitoring to defendants facing protection from abuse orders. State Rep. Anita Kulik is the bill’s sponsor.

“It would give judges the ability to electronically enforce PFAs,” said Ember K. Holmes of Dickie McCamey.

Sheykhet petitioned for a PFA against her ex-boyfriend one month before her murder. The PFA was issued just three days before her death.

“That’s where these electronic enforcement devices could literally save people,” said Holmes. “It’s a matter of literally saving people from being killed by their partners in domestic abuse situations.”

“Walk for Love” featured food trucks, live bands, a Broadway dance troupe, and children’s activities and was sponsored, in part, by Dickie McCamey.

Alina’s Light from Dickie McCamey on Vimeo

To learn more about Alina’s Light, please visit https://alinaslight.com.