Media Release for immediate release

20 August 2012

Wellington Rape Crisis able to open doors again due to donations

Wellington Rape Crisis (WRC) has today announced that it will be able to open its doors again on a Friday after just one week of operating limited services. Last week Wellington Rape Crisis was forced to cut its services by 20 percent by closing its doors on Fridays, due to funding shortages.

Wellington Rape Crisis Agency Manager Natalie Gousmett says “We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the community support for our organisation. In the last week we have raised $55,000 from donations from the community, which will enable us to regain full capacity immediately, after only one week operating on limited services”.

“A big part of this fundraising success has been the dollar-for-dollar pledge by Hell Pizza for donations to our Fundy site but we have also received donations from over 550 individuals. It really shows that the community values and supports the work we do with survivors of rape and sexual abuse and their support people. WRC staff, Governance and volunteers want to say a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone that has supported us”, says Gousmett.

“Meeting our $55,000 target means that we can continue providing these vital services for this financial year. However, it is very likely that we will be in similar deficit position next year unless Government addresses the current chronic underfunding of the Sexual Violence Sector. We know Government have been working with the Sexual Violence national umbrella organisation (TOAH-NNEST) on this since the 2009 Sexual Violence Taskforce report and we hope we will see some sustainable and consistent funding solutions come out of this soon. In the meantime we will continue to rely on donations and fundraising to deliver our core services”, says Gousmett.

Ends

Note to editors
Wellington Rape Crisis costs around $310,000 a year to run and receives around $77,000 of secure funding annually from Government, the remaining $233,000 is raised through either contestable funding applications (where WRC is competing with other community service providers and charities) and WRC’s independent fundraising efforts including an annual street appeal, donations and fundraising events.

In 2010-2011 WRC had 543 client contacts and in 2011-2012 WRC had 995 client contacts. In the same periods ongoing clients increased from 140 to 179.

See the 2009 Report of the Taskforce for Action on Sexual Violence, with specific recommendations on funding of the Sexual Violence Sector here http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy/supporting-victims/taskforce-for-action-on-sexual-violence/the-taskforce-report

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