Women’s Refuge Safe-Night-a-thon exceeds target

The Women’s Refuge inaugural Safe-Night-a-thon far exceeded its target, raising an extraordinary 12,791 Safe Nights over 10 days. The aim was to reach 10,000 nights.

Now, 11 New Zealanders will win the ‘money-can’t-buy’ experiences that were up for grabs in the Safe-Night-a-thon, which ran between August 6 and August 15.

The campaign was supported by thousands of Kiwis, and by organisations including Contact Energy and Accenture, both of which gifted significant numbers of Safe Nights and the chance to win experiences, on behalf of their staff.

The experiences to be won include the opportunity to create your own Whittaker’s chocolate flavour, climb a tree with superstar actress Thomasin McKenzie, listen as indie-pop sensation Benee sings you Happy Birthday, or have sporting glamour couple Beauden and Hannah Barrett drop your kids at school.

Also in the mix is the chance to create a Barbie outfit with fashion legend Karen Walker, enjoy a private concert with the NZSO, have Seven Sharp’s Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells clean the house, search for the paranormal with officers Minogue and O’Leary or……play mini-golf with Dr Ashley Bloomfield!

Notes:

New Zealand’s family violence statistics

• Every night more than 200 women and children are too afraid to stay at home.
• Referrals to Women’s Refuge more than doubled from 24,000 to just under 60,000 between 2016 and 2020.
• NZ Police conducted 133,022 family harm investigations in 2018, up from 95,101 in 2013.
• Police are called to a family violence incident every 3 minutes, even though according to some estimates ¾ of family violence incidents are not even reported.

Miranda Harcourt, face of the Safe Night initiative, said: “To all the generous New Zealanders who dug deep for the Safe-Night-a-thon – thank you! Your support makes all the difference for women and children across Aotearoa. And we wish you all the best for winning one of the 11 fabulous experiences.”

Dr Ang Jury, Chief Executive of Women’s Refuge, said: “In just 10 days we raised nearly 13,000 Safe Nights, well over our target. This means we are going to be able to support many more women and children that experience family violence in New Zealand. Your donation will help provide a warm, safe place to sleep, a nutritious meal, 24-hour security and counselling.

“Aotearoa has one of the worst rates of domestic violence in the developed world. Your kindness means we can continue to support the many thousands of women and children who need our help, every single night. A big thank you to everyone who contributed.”

Safe Night donations can still be made here: safenight.nz
 

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