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Jersey Women's Refuge has launched an urgent £130,000 fundraising appeal ahead of a move to an expanded safe house which will allow them to accommodate women and children with more "diverse needs."
The charity’s newly-appointed CEO Lisa Leventhal said the money will help them refurbish and secure the new site, which should be able to house women with disabilities, with pets, and those with sons up to the age of 18 in a self-contained unit.
Jersey Women's Refuge, which was founded in 1988 and turns 35 this year, offers the only local safe house and independently run 24-hour specialist services for women and children, who are or have been facing domestic abuse.
In 2022, their services supported a total of 364 women and children, with 42 women and 33 children having sought safety at the safe house.
Ms Leventhal said that recent situations in which women were unfortunately turned away due to complex needs will no longer have to occur.
She said that the move, which has been a year in the process, means "we never have to say no."
The expanded site should be able to accommodate up to 24 women and children at one time.
Pictured: JWR is working with Jersey's Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce to research domestic abuse in the Island and improve legislation.
Ms Leventhal said: "The 35th year is a year of a lot of change for us. The most important thing we're doing this year is moving the safe house to a new location where we will be able to accommodate women and children who have more diverse needs."
"We will be able to take in women who are disabled, because we have disabled access. This includes those who are autistic and partially sighted, and we have had advice from Liberate to accommodate that.
"We have a much larger garden for the children to play in, new kitchen equipment, new furniture, and much more."
She added: "We will also be able to take on women with sons up to the age of eighteen in a self-contained unit."
Rozelle Sutherland, who founded JWR and recently stepped down from the board last year, said accommodating women with older sons "was always a problem."
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But Ms Leventhal said the charity is still campaigning for funds to finish the refurbishments and bolster the security "which is hugely important for our safe house."
"For this new move next month, we desperately need funding to help us make it comfortable and make it safe. It would be wonderful if people came forward and gave us some donations to help us do that and make a lovely home for them. It is so important."
The JWR receives a small amount of funding from the Government, which accounts for 30% of their operational budget, and the rest they source from individuals and corporates who donate.
"But it is very difficult to get sustained predictable income, rather than one-off donations."
Ms Leventhal said that there are "lots of new things in the pipeline" for JWR in their anniversary year, including "changing up our training programmes for women when they come to us for extra support, and perhaps a support group which meets monthly."
"It is about educating men and women together about respectful relationships, and there is a lot of work to be done."
Last year, JWR spoke to over 2,700 students as part of their awareness training.
"We hope to continue extending that, but it is really from the core, starting from very young to try and change attitudes."
You can donate to the £130,000 safe house appeal by clicking HERE.
To mark the charity's 35th anniversary, Express spoke to JWR founder Rozelle Sutherland about the story of how she founded the charity, and to new CEO Lisa Leventhal about how she'll be continuing Rozelle's legacy...
Anyone seeking support can call JWR's helpline on 0800 735 6836. They can also email hello@jerseywomensrefuge.org.
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