Two women bringing a message of hope to abused and neglected children in New Zealand and Australia for nearly three years, have "absolutely no intention" of stopping anytime soon they say.
Katrina Crews and Caro Cragg, who met through an online forum discussing the problem of child abuse, set up
4thekidz in 2012, after seeing what Katrina describes as "a need to do things in a certain way, focused on strengthening families".
Since then, their charitable organisation has grown in numbers as well as scope of projects. With offshoots such as Tedz for the Kidz, which aims to give teddybears, blankets and even a diary or notebook to children who come to the attention of police investigative teams, especially in the forensic field, the women say they are in desperate need of more volunteers to help them.
"We need cultural advisors, business advisors, people who can help us make things happen, as well as more volunteers to collect donations, and to distribute them when needed," says Katrina. Thanks to a great board of trustees along with all the members they have already, she says they are coping with the work load. However, they would love to have more people join them.
A key difference between 4thekidz and other groups set up to tackle the issue of child abuse is their willingness to also work with the offenders.
