Women's refuge welcomes grant

Palmerston North's Women's Refuge is hoping a $7000 community grant will help raise awareness that the refuge is more than just a shelter.

The manager of Women's Refuge Palmerston North, Ang Jury, said the money from the Eastern and Central Community Trust would go towards helping raise awareness of the services the refuge provides for women in need.

"The refuge in Palmerston North has largely operated away from the community so we find women often don't know we're here, or have weird ideas about what it is we can actually do for them," Mrs Jury said.

The grant will also help Women's Refuge expand its services to outlying areas to increase its reach to victims of family violence in Dannevirke, Shannon, and Foxton areas.

Mrs Jury said that while victims in those areas had always been welcome to use the refuge, a lack of resources until now had meant the refuge had to keep its profile under wraps.

"We weren't able make promises we couldn't keep but now we're hoping more help will be available," she said.

"The idea is we will have workers who will be able to have a regular presence in those areas, and to grow the refuge and make people they are aware that they can use us.

"In terms of those areas, I don't think they are any worse than anywhere else in the country, but they currently don't have any of the services available to them that we can offer."

Women's refuge relies heavily on donations and grants, with a number of grant applications still outstanding.

The Palmerston North branch has an annual operating budget of about $250,000. The Ministry of Social Development provides about $150,000 of that funding, and the rest comes from grants and donations such as the Eastern and Central Community Trust.

The Community Trust also awarded $60,000 to All Saints Anglican Parish to build a community centre on the site where the old All Saints church was torched three years ago.

Community Trust donations manager Bev Watkins said a large number of people attended a range of events at the church and the centre would enable more activities and wider involvement.

The project to fully redevelop the site behind the newer brick church was expected to cost about $2.4 million.

- © Fairfax NZ News