A raffle organised by Havant MP Alan Mak has helped raise more than £250 towards the campaign to build a specialist domestic abuse refuge in South East Hampshire.
Southern Domestic Abuse Service (SDAS) are currently running a ‘buy a brick’ campaign to help turn the vision of a safe house into a reality, with Alan encouraging residents to donate to the campaign.
In total, £550 was raised by the raffle at Alan’s Havant Small Business Awards last month, with the proceeds split equally with the Royal British Legion, and he was at charity’s Havant headquarters to hand over the cheque.
Alan said: “I was delighted to be able to hand over a cheque worth more than £250 to SDAS and to continue to support their excellent campaign to build a specialist safe house here in South East Hampshire. I’ve worked closely with the charity since I was first elected, helping support a number of successful bids for grant funding from central Government. So I know that the work they do to support local women and rebuild lives in the community is absolutely vital.
“I encourage all residents to get behind this really important campaign.”
Statistics show that in the last year 1.4 million women were victims of domestic abuse and two women were killed by their partners or former partners every week. Moving into a refuge takes the victim away from the violence and can quite literally save their lives.
To buy a virtual brick and support the safe house campaign visit www.southerndas.org. Bronze, silver and gold coloured bricks can be ‘bought’ in return for donations of £25, £100 or £1000 and dedications and messages can also be added to the larger value bricks. So far more £60,000 has been raised towards the target.
Claire Lambon, CEO of SDAS, said: “Thank you to Alan and everyone that took part in the raffle for helping to raise money towards our campaign to build a specialist domestic abuse safe house in South East Hampshire. It is so important that refuge provision for victims of domestic abuse is maintained in the area. We also thank Alan for his continuing support of SDAS both locally and at a national level.”
Picture: Alan Mak MP hands over the cheque to Claire Lambon, chair of trustees Wendy Osgood and the SDAS team