LAST week the first fundraising target of $20,000 towards a domestic violence refuge in the Great Lakes was well surpassed with the donation of a $25,000 cheque from Club Forster, on top of an annual pledge of $3000 from the Lions Club.
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Related: Forster to have women's shelter by year's end...click here
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“Reaching the first target means we can start setting up for the shelter, including insurances, incorporating the shelter as an association, making it tax deductible, finding a property and having the security for rent, and having money for any modifications that might need to be made,” manager of Forster Neighbourhood Centre Trish Wallace said.
“We’ve already started looking at properties.”
Peter Clarke, general manager of Club Forster, said that the club would assist whenever it could towards solving the problem of homelessness for women and children exposed to domestic violence in the Great Lakes community.
With Club Forster’s generous donation, fundraising for stage two is now underway. The refuge’s running costs for its first year are estimated to be up to $350,000. With two thirds of that to be met by the Women’s Community Shelter, Forster Neighbourhood Centre needs to raise approximately $115,000, or one third of the final amount.
“We’re currently up to $44,000, including stage one,” Ms Wallace said.
She added that the steering committee for the shelter met recently and after a brief discussion committed to naming the shelter the Great Lakes Women’s Shelter.
