Zoe Moffatt
Sunbury residents impacted by family violence have been given a helping hand to meet their transportation needs, through a car donation from the Rotary Club of Sunbury.
Sunbury Rotary has been heavily involved in local family violence education, and in its next step to tackle this issue, it has donated a car to Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health (SCCH).
SCCH family services and housing manager Justine Maher said the car will be used to help transport individuals in the family service and family violence program.
“Initially we met with rotary a few months ago to talk about family violence and the impact on women and children,” Ms Maher said.
“Rotary wanted to know how they could help and an area identified was that some families found it difficult to get to appointments, such as doctors appointments.
“They then went back to their own club and decided Rotary wanted to donate a car for SCCH family service and family violence program.”
With the impact of family violence increasingly evident in nation-wide news, Ms Maher said it’s more complex than it’s ever been.
“Family services are seeing more and more families coming … with historic or current family violence,” she said.
“[This donation] is going to help our program reach more people… it’s going to help us reach more clients.
“It’s a new connection with Rotary and we look forward to working with them in the future, without community support to help with those extra funding needs we wouldn’t be able to run our programs.
“Sunbury Police were also heavily involved in bringing this connection of groups together, which then resulted in this donation.”
Anyone who needs help or is being affected by family violence can contact Orange Door Sunbury for advice or support: 1800 271 151.
