Women's Centre Turns Ten!
Women's Centre Turns Ten!
The Nelson Women¹s Centre has
a great reason to party - they are turning
ten. The
Trafalgar Street house has been home to groups such as Rape
Crisis
and Nelson Women¹s Support for a decade and to
mark their tenth birthday on
Saturday they are opening
their doors and filling their garden with art,
music, a
barbecue and a book launch.
Coordinator Carrie Mozena
says the anniversary is an important milestone in
the
life of Te Whare Awhina Mo Nga Wahine Puawai or Œthe House
of the
Blossoming Women¹.
³The Women¹s Centre is a
key strand in the web of social services in
Nelson,² she
said. ³The number of women using our services has
been
increasingly steadily and we now see over 4000 women
in a year. Their needs
range from emergency accommodation
and issues of historic family violence,
through to just
being new to Nelson, and wanting to connect with other
women
in the Nelson community by volunteering or coming
to a workshop.²
The 10 year celebration garden party on
Saturday 9th December from 4 8pm
is open to everyone
including male friends and supporters. It will
feature
the Celtic music group Cairdre, the world music
choir Mosaic and Green party
MP Sue Kedgley as the guest
speaker. There will also be a launch of
the
self-published ŒStories by Carers¹ facilitated by
Nelson woman Mary-Lynn
Boyes. This is the result of
twelve writers¹ sessions held at the Woman¹s
Centre
earlier this year where the participants shared their
stories on the
ups and downs of their caring
roles.
Women in Nelson fundraised in 1995-96 to buy the
house at 44 Trafalgar St
from the Nelson City Council as
a drop-in centre for women in the Nelson
region. The
groups using the house offer practical help on a wide range
of
life issues, including parenting and custody, mental
and physical health,
historic family violence, budgeting
and emergency accommodation. The Women¹s
Centre runs
courses and workshops, free cervical smear clinics,
free
counselling for women on a wide range of issues
including depression, life
direction, grief, trauma, rape
and sexual abuse. In 2005 the Women¹s Centre
won the
Trustpower Community Award in the health and wellbeing
section.
Ends