Public donations help make life easier for victims of Christchurch mosque attacks

Funerals held for some of the mosque attack victims at Hagley Park in March, pictured, are among the things money donated by the public has been used for. Photo / File

Victims and families of the Christchurch mosque attacks have so far received $1.4 million of the $10.2m donated by the public to Victim Support to help them cope and cover urgent expenses.

The money, including another $247,500 in grants from the Ministry of Justice, has been handed out in the form of emergency grants to help the victims and family members pay for immediate expenses such as funerals, accommodation and travel, to fly family in from overseas or even fund driving lessons.

A further $15,000 has been given for family members who were killed and $5000 to those who were hospitalised after the shootings.

Victim Support chief executive Kevin Tso said the money had already made a big difference to some of the victims and their families.

"Every day we are seeing the huge impact people's generosity is having for those who we've been able to support so far, from having loved ones able to visit, to things as simple as relieving the stress of the weekly grocery shop."

So far Victim Support has helped more than 600 victims of the tragedy and the charity is still getting funding requests.

"We're providing financial support for a wide range of needs. Initially the major costs were around things like funeral ceremonies. Now, people are looking more to the future and needing a bit of help to make ends meet, or prepare for new challenges, which could be as simple as paying for driving lessons. There are also a lot of costs around family support, such as bringing relatives from overseas to help," Tso said.

Victim Support also received long-term funding from the ministry to provide counselling and financial support for the victims and families to attend court.

Tso said Victim Support was consulting directly with victims and the affected community to ensure the remaining $8.8m raised were distributed fairly and transparently and would meet their needs going forward. The majority of the funds, $9.85m, were raised via Victim Support's Givealittle page, while the remaining $177,000 was collected via its Everyday Hero page.

As well as the money from Victim Support, victims could also be entitled to financial support from Work & Income and ACC.