Safe house seeks helping hands

Mitre 10 Mega's Terry Wilson and Waikato Women's Refuge CEO Roni Albert.

Waikato Women's Refuge - Te Whakaruruhau is calling on the Hamilton community to lend a hand to help complete renovations on its sixth city safe house.

The goal is to complete it before Christmas, ready to house another five women and up to 10 children.

Completion of the organisation's sixth safe house will increase the refuge's current accommodation numbers, and allow them to cater to 75 women and children.

The organisation is asking tradespeople as well as non-skilled volunteers to help out during its Community Safe House Build project between November 2 and 13.

"We're very excited that Hamilton's Mitre 10 Mega has come on board, donating all the building materials to complete the renovation. Now, we just need tradespeople as well as non-skilled, adult volunteers to muck in and help us renovate this safe house," said Waikato Women's Refuge chief executive Roni Albert.

"Volunteering just a few hours of your time, along with others in our community, will make a lifetime of difference to the families being supported by our refuge."

Terry Wilson, managing director of Hamilton's Mitre 10 Mega, said once he and his team learned about the work of Waikato Women's Refuge he wanted to do something significant to help.

"My team and I were recently introduced to the difficult, yet remarkable work of the Waikato Women's Refuge. On top of providing education and support for women and children affected by family violence, their safe houses provide emergency services and accommodation," said Mr Wilson.

"We felt that we could help with this renovation project. So we've rounded up our team, and our suppliers to donate $30,000 worth of building products."

Waikato Women's Refuge's sixth safe house was moved to site last year. It was generously donated by Braemar Hospital and is the former Salvation Army's The Nest home.

Waikato Women's Refuge is New Zealand's largest refuge and the only refuge one in the country that operates a 24/7 support service. In Hamilton city alone, its team assists 85-100 women and their children every week - those who've been involved in police call-outs as a result of family violence.

This number doesn't include the women who walk off the street and into Women's Refuge's offices asking for assistance on a daily basis.

"For many people in the Hamilton community, these statistics will come as a shock," Roni Albert said.

"But for our team at the refuge, this is a daily reality.

"We hope people in the community will see this renovation project as an easy way to contribute and make a difference."

Volunteers can sign up to work a half or full day (or more), Monday through Friday both weeks.

Volunteers can sign up by phoning Waikato Women's Refuge on 855 1569 or online at www.roundingup.co.nz.

In addition to volunteer help, the refuge also needs a range of new or lightly used donated items including beds and bedroom furnishings, laundry machine, vacuum cleaners, kitchen items, lounge furniture, bathroom furnishings, meeting room table, whiteboard, computers, TV, office furniture, printer and more.