Julie Hart is the business manager for Family VIP Services Hawke's Bay who look after two Women's Refuge centres in the region.
Julie Hart is the business manager for Family VIP Services Hawke's Bay who look after two Women's Refuge centres in the region.
On the verge of lockdown 2021, Julie Hart expressed concern that a trend seen in 2020 might re-emerge.
Hart is the business manager for Family VIP Services Hawke's Bay who look after two Women's Refuge centres in the region.
In 2020, during lockdown, Women's Refuge phones went silent.
It wasa worrying trend and a scary thought, that domestic violence victims were trapped in lockdown with violent partners, and were too afraid to seek help.
In 2021, there was no such trend. In fact, sadly there was a rise in the number of women seeking help in Hawke's Bay in lockdown.
There were so many, Family VIP Services - in order to honour its pledge of providing a safe haven in a domestic violence storm, had to dip into its cash reserves and pay for motels for at-risk mums and kids.
Surely we have people out there, more fortunate financially than the average person, that can help Women's Refuge?
It has cost more than $13,500 for motels, which has been challenging as, in 2021, the refuges have not enjoyed support they received last year.
"When we went into lockdown last year the Government and philanthropic trusts were very generous, this time we haven't had that," Hart says.
Outside of domestic relationships, Hawke's Bay has also witnessed an assault this past week that seems to verge on the inexplicable - a wheelchair-bound young woman struck multiple times in the head by someone she does not know.
Violence erupts from tension and lockdown adds plenty of that to everyday life.
It can also give rise to more use of inflammable time-killers like alcohol and drugs.
And for those that struggle with mental health challenges, there is an extra layer of low-lying cloud.
It's a fact of lockdown life that not everyone in the team of 5 million is fit and healthy, ready to take the field against Covid.
It's also a fact that it's a tragedy that when an abusive partner raises a hand, Women's Refuge not only has to extend help to victims, but put out a call for funding.
The good news is that Hawke's Bay has its own "team".
Surely we have people out there, more fortunate financially than the average person, that can help Women's Refuge?
