April opening Plans going well for women’s night shelter

Press, 26 February 1986, Page 12

April opening Plans going well for women’s night shelter

DEBORAH McPHERSON reports on the setting up of a night shelter for women alone and in need.

Christchurch women will soon be able to seek shelter in emergencies at a night shelter being set up under the umbrella of the Young Women’s Christian Association.

A Night Shelter Core Group, representing many concerned women’s groups, has been working for the last two years to set up a night shelter for needy and destitute single women.

The group has been successful in finding a suitable house, which it is renting from the Christchurch City Council. “The council was helpful at all stages of the project,” says a group spokesperson, Mrs Margaret Arnold.

She does not want to say where the house is for the protection of women who will be staying there when it opens in April.

Women who need to use the shelter will be able to ring a telephone number which will be included in planned publicity brochures.

The Department of Social Welfare contributed $7OOO towards the rent and running costs of the shelter. A further $3OOO will be needed to pay for the cost of upgrading the plumbing and converting several of the rooms to suit the needs of the shelter, Margaret Arnold, says.

The group also received a positive response from the Waimairi District

Council, and the Presbyterian Support Services in its quest for funding. Applications are also being made to other local councils and church, service and women’s groups for additional funding, as well as furniture, bedding, and equipment. An appeal for bedding will be made. In particular, the shelter needs pillows and linen that can be

easily laundered. Bed covers such as duvets’ are better suited to regular laundering than heavy blankets, adds Margaret Arnold.

The shelter will probably need triple bedding for each bed, as the sheets will have to be changed every day, if not twice a day in some cases.

Food will not be so much of a problem because the shelter will only be open for breakfast, and

a light evening meal. Two surveys which had been conducted during the last four years have shown there is a special need for a night shelter for single women to go where they can talk to understanding community workers.

Margaret Arnold expects the women using the shelter will not necessarily be trying to escape from a violent relationship, but will need someone to talk to about a problem, or somewhere to stay in an emergency. “The resources of battered women’s refuges are being stretched because they were having to cope with an increasing number of women who were not necessarily escaping from physical vio-

lence,” she explains. “At the shelter, they can say what they like and get help in solving their problems. The shelter will act as an intermediary bridge.” It will have accommodation for one resident community worker. Seven shiftworkers will also provide additional support.

“None of the workers has been appointed yet, but they will need to possess positive communication skills, as well as be prepared to work with a group.”

The core group hopes to pay its workers from either the Voluntary Organisations Training Programme scheme, which was being phased out this year, or from a community grants scheme which would replace V.O.T.P. The Minister of Social Welfare, Mrs Ann Hercus, has given her support, to the venture, according to Margaret Arnold. The shelter, which plans to provide accommodation for up to 15 women, will be open from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. It is hoped it will be open by April, if enough money can be raised for the renovations.

$3OOO needed for further renovations