IT was a big goal that was met with cheers and applause from the audience at a community meeting on domestic violence on Thursday. By the end of this year, the Great Lakes will have its own shelter for victims fleeing domestic violence.
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A crowd of more than 120 people, representing individuals, community groups and services from around the shire, declared their support for a shelter to be built in the Great Lakes by the end of 2015.
A working party will be formed as part of the Forster Neighbourhood Centre’s Housing First committee to begin the fundraising drive for the project. The first aim is to raise $20,000 within three months for the cost of outfitting a property for the shelter.
Women’s Community Shelters (WCS) CEO Annabelle Daniel pledged to match that funding to cover the total cost of starting the shelter. The organisation, which enjoys tax deductible status, will collect donations for the project and ear-mark them for the Forster Tuncurry development.
WCS will also support the opening years of the project, donating up to two-thirds of its running costs for the first three years.
Forster Neighbourhood Centre manager Trish Wallace said it was hoped that, after that time, the service would have proved its value and attract other financial support.
The working party will be focusing its efforts on fundraising in the immediate future, before looking for suitable properties for the shelter. If someone owned a suitable property, they were invited to contact the Neighbourhood Centre for discussions.
Ms Wallace said she could not be more pleased with the meeting’s success, its roll-up and the enthusiasm shown for the project.
Local service groups have pledged their support to the project, nominating it as a focus of their fundraising this year.
“What came out of (last week’s meeting) is that all of these groups have come together and identified this as a community priority,” she said.
“In-kind contributions will be very welcome. It means we don’t have to spend cash on items that are donated.”
WCS’s Ms Daniel said items such as meat, groceries and linens had been donated to the Sydney shelters, which kept running costs down.
There were two donations of $1000 received by the WCS at the community meeting last week, which will be set aside for the Great Lakes project. Another $1000 was raised from multiple donations on the day.
“That means we’ve only got $17,000 to go,” Ms Wallace said.
“It feels like it’s within reach now.”
People interested in donating or giving their time and expertise to the working party are invited to contact Ms Wallace at the Forster Neighbourhood Centre on 6555 4351, or visit its website, where donation forms are available.
