21st of January, 2021
After such a challenging year, we are so thankful for all the support we have received this past year.
Every year thousands of people in Canterbury reach out for support from Aviva. Owing to the pandemic and lockdown, we saw a 37% increase in calls for support in 2020. This increase was profoundly felt over Christmas as we had more clients than ever before and a full waitlist still in need of support.
Thanks to kind generosity of our supporters, Aviva has been able to provide advice, advocacy, and support to those in need despite a global pandemic and nationwide lockdown. We were able to provide nearly $44,000 worth of emergency funds, vouchers, and other essentials for clients; and raise over $160,000 across our various appeals to support our communities to live free from violence.
Over Christmas, we provided 150 food hampers and over 1000 gifts and vouchers to families in need, and we managed to raise over $76,000. These funds will continue to be used throughout 2021 to support tamariki and whānau to live free from violence. Children like Lucy.
During our Christmas Appeal, we told you about Lucy, a friendly and talkative girl who loved dancing. During lockdown, the problems her parents were having only got worse and it became harder for them to hide the violence. Although Lucy and her mum left as soon as lockdown ended, that happy and energetic little girl became a completely different person - fearful, afraid to make eye contact and clinging to her mum constantly. By December, her mum was still struggling to overcome her experiences with violence and didn't know if she could even give Lucy a Christmas. Thanks to the generosity we received through the holidays, children like Lucy had gifts to open on Christmas morning, and will now be able to access our tamariki group in the new year.
This Christmas, we even had a past client come back to Aviva with Christmas presents for children like Lucy. We would like to share what they said with you:
“Thank you for everything you do. We have been the recipient of services (& Christmas presents!) in the past and now live very happily due to the help and support we received when we needed it. Merry Christmas xx”
Happy new year! We wish you a safe and violence-free 2021!
Find out more about what your support helped us accomplish this past year below:
