Success In
Motion At the Haven House AGM!
September 19/14
I spent my second day on the campaign trail not campaigning, but instead re-visiting my 1980 roots in the movement to assist abused women.
As many of you know, back in 1978-79 - shortly after I moved to B.C. I began working to stop violence against women, and helped start Haven House in Nanaimo.
At that time I was fortunate to stand with Rosemary Brown, the only MLA brave enough to speak up for women and the families who were being abused – and that led to some of us then forming the BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses.
At the Haven House AGM on Thursday I got to hear from the new Executive Director and Board, and to speak with many of the volunteers. They have to be thanked for all they’ve done to bring such concerns forward, and for their significant success.
Although much is still to be done I’m so very pleased to see the progress since I first got involved – how violence against women is no longer sanctioned or acceptable in our society, and that so many are now adding their support to make a difference.
When we started back in the late 70’s we just had a summer grant. We could afford a telephone, and a bunch of stickers that we slapped up on all the telephone booths and in the bathrooms of bars and restaurants around town, and set-up a ‘Haven Crises Line’.
After the summer grant, when it became apparent how prevalent the problem was, how violence against women was largely being ignored, we started a safe house. Our first ‘Haven House’ provided a sanctuary and a place to begin gathering resources so we could respond, provide a place for abused women and children to hide and recover – and assess their options. That first house on Cavan Street, which is no longer there, was slated to be demolished, but we persuaded the City to give it to us for the women of Nanaimo.
With donated clothes for the women and children to pick out, since many of them came with only their pajamas, and a handful of volunteers we went from grant to grant, and argued for the need for dedicated programs that would address the range of problems which allowed violence against women to be quietly ignored, and virtually sanctioned across all sectors in society.
And for many of us, volunteers as well as the women who came for help, the times were too often scary ...when angry men came banging at the back door 'for their women', and in the middle of the night when it was necessary to rescue a mother and her children and we found ourselves chased down the road and through the streets of Nanaimo.
Now, the Haven Society works in our communities, organizing and coordinating with 18 different programs and support services that span a wide range of initiatives. Their goal now encompasses, “Promoting the safety and integrity of women, children, youth and families.”
After listening to the progress that’s happened throughout the years, with so many organizations participating and contributing to help women in domestic violence, I was left with a huge sense of pride for what I had helped to start, of total gratitude to the women who have continued the struggle – and with a great feeling of hope for the future.
In the beginning, hashing out the options over cups of coffee in Annabelle's basement, we could only dream of a safe place for women to go ...to have a recognition that violence against women was not acceptable, and that our communities and our society would recognize the need to help stop domestic violence ...to get it out of the closet, and out of the home.
I’m so pleased today at what I saw at the Haven Society AGM, and all I can say is ...thank you one and all for making my dream come true.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Jackie Moad
Thistledown Farm, Nanaimo, BC, V9X 1K3
(250 722-7223) <[email protected]> (http://jackiemoad.weebly.com)
Below, pictures taken at the Haven Society AGM,
with past and present Board members and volunteers...
September 19/14
I spent my second day on the campaign trail not campaigning, but instead re-visiting my 1980 roots in the movement to assist abused women.
As many of you know, back in 1978-79 - shortly after I moved to B.C. I began working to stop violence against women, and helped start Haven House in Nanaimo.
At that time I was fortunate to stand with Rosemary Brown, the only MLA brave enough to speak up for women and the families who were being abused – and that led to some of us then forming the BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses.
At the Haven House AGM on Thursday I got to hear from the new Executive Director and Board, and to speak with many of the volunteers. They have to be thanked for all they’ve done to bring such concerns forward, and for their significant success.
Although much is still to be done I’m so very pleased to see the progress since I first got involved – how violence against women is no longer sanctioned or acceptable in our society, and that so many are now adding their support to make a difference.
When we started back in the late 70’s we just had a summer grant. We could afford a telephone, and a bunch of stickers that we slapped up on all the telephone booths and in the bathrooms of bars and restaurants around town, and set-up a ‘Haven Crises Line’.
After the summer grant, when it became apparent how prevalent the problem was, how violence against women was largely being ignored, we started a safe house. Our first ‘Haven House’ provided a sanctuary and a place to begin gathering resources so we could respond, provide a place for abused women and children to hide and recover – and assess their options. That first house on Cavan Street, which is no longer there, was slated to be demolished, but we persuaded the City to give it to us for the women of Nanaimo.
With donated clothes for the women and children to pick out, since many of them came with only their pajamas, and a handful of volunteers we went from grant to grant, and argued for the need for dedicated programs that would address the range of problems which allowed violence against women to be quietly ignored, and virtually sanctioned across all sectors in society.
And for many of us, volunteers as well as the women who came for help, the times were too often scary ...when angry men came banging at the back door 'for their women', and in the middle of the night when it was necessary to rescue a mother and her children and we found ourselves chased down the road and through the streets of Nanaimo.
Now, the Haven Society works in our communities, organizing and coordinating with 18 different programs and support services that span a wide range of initiatives. Their goal now encompasses, “Promoting the safety and integrity of women, children, youth and families.”
After listening to the progress that’s happened throughout the years, with so many organizations participating and contributing to help women in domestic violence, I was left with a huge sense of pride for what I had helped to start, of total gratitude to the women who have continued the struggle – and with a great feeling of hope for the future.
In the beginning, hashing out the options over cups of coffee in Annabelle's basement, we could only dream of a safe place for women to go ...to have a recognition that violence against women was not acceptable, and that our communities and our society would recognize the need to help stop domestic violence ...to get it out of the closet, and out of the home.
I’m so pleased today at what I saw at the Haven Society AGM, and all I can say is ...thank you one and all for making my dream come true.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Jackie Moad
Thistledown Farm, Nanaimo, BC, V9X 1K3
(250 722-7223) <[email protected]> (http://jackiemoad.weebly.com)
Below, pictures taken at the Haven Society AGM,
with past and present Board members and volunteers...