WAILUKU - With a conference and vigils in Maui County marking Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, advocates say they hope to enlist more men in the effort to stop violence in families.

"This is not only a woman's issue. This is a family issue. This is a people issue," said Lucy Feinberg, Maui regional director of Parents And Children Together. "A goal is to increase the number of men who can work with us in stopping violence where they see it."

To that end, Women Helping Women has organized a daylong conference Friday called "Stopping Violence, Starting Peace in the Family: Men's Responsibility."

The conference will include keynote speaker Chic Dabby of the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence and a panel featuring Maui County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Acob, 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen, Maui police Sgt. Gregg Okamoto and Dr. Dave Nelson of the Maui Memorial Medical Center emergency room.

Registration is $10 for the session, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Maui Community College, Ka Lama 103 lecture hall. Information is available by calling 242-6600.

Stacey Moniz, executive director of Women Helping Women, said the conference is open to anyone and is part of an effort to involve more men in preventing domestic violence.

Moniz said men have volunteered to help the nonprofit organization, including eight deputy prosecutors who signed up for a fundraising fun run earlier this year.

"But we have never really made an effort to engage men in this work," Moniz said. "It's going to take the whole community being involved to end domestic violence."

In 2001, Bureau of Justice statistics showed women accounted for 85 percent of domestic violence victims.

While agencies have classes and programs for men who have committed abuse, many men aren't abusive and don't like domestic violence, Moniz said.

"They want to make a difference," she said. "We all need to become this support system. We all need to look at what we can do to stop violence and create peace."

Last year, 4,530 domestic violence-related cases were reported to Maui County police and 310 temporary restraining orders issued in the county. Both last year and so far this year, one murder and one murder-suicide in Maui County were attributed to domestic violence.

In the midst of the economic downturn, calls to the domestic violence hotline have increased while numbers seeking housing at the shelter have held steady, Moniz said. She said the shelter probably would be busier, but the agency has worked with the county rental assistance program to help some families find housing.

Feinberg said her group saw a "definite increase" in numbers of temporary restraining orders sought in September. She said economics may cause stress in the family, but she noted that "many families have economic difficulties but the partner does not resort to violence."

"The economic crisis is not a reason for domestic violence," she said. "However, pressures in the family have multiplied. With unemployment, there's more access that partners have with each other. We have to be very careful and not blame the economics for domestic violence because people have been living in poverty and on low incomes for years and not abusing their partners."

Throughout this month, the Maui County Domestic Violence Task Force has run public service radio messages in English, Spanish and Ilocano featuring Maui men, women and children talking about ways to intervene to try to stop domestic violence.

Moniz said she recently talked to three friends who encountered others involved in domestic violence in stores and other public places.

One friend was punched in the face when she tried to intervene. Another friend who intervened was effective in stopping the violence. And a third friend was so afraid that he called 911.

"Three different scenarios, three different interventions and three different outcomes," she said. "I told all of them, 'You did the right thing.'

"A lot of people do nothing because they don't want to get involved. What if you don't call the police and the next day, the police are outside because somebody's died? It's better to err on the side of caution and call the police. Without help, domestic violence won't stop. There needs to be some kind of outside intervention."

Vigils marking Domestic Violence Awareness Month are scheduled next week on Lanai and Maui.

On Lanai, the eighth annual candlelight vigil commemorating victims of domestic violence will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Dole administration building flagpole in Lanai City.

On Oct. 29, the second annual Vigil for Peace organized by Peace Peeps begins at 5 p.m. at Maui Mall in Kahului.