PRESS RELEASE: Woking Rotaract Club donate £250 to Victim Support
The Rotaract Club of Woking is a social club which also helps the local community and raises money for Charity. The club recently donated £250 to North-West Surrey Victim Support.
They chose the North-West Surrey branch of Victim Support as beneficiary of some of their recently raised funds in recognition of the invaluable service the volunteers provide to thousands of victims of crime each year in this area.
Victim Support volunteers Mike* and Veronica* attended one of Woking Rotaract's regular meetings to accept the donation. They also explained to the members how they provide their support in the wide range of cases they become involved in, and how the donation would assist them.
Woking Rotaract President Sue Smith* said after the presentation "I had no idea of the diversity of cases the volunteers provide support for, or that some of the volunteers also work with criminals to explain to them how their crimes affect the victims they work with. I'm grateful to Mike and Veronica for sharing their experience with us, and to all the volunteers for the work they do."
Notes: Woking Rotaract
Rotaract was formed in 1968 by Rotary in the USA and has now spread worldwide. There are approximately 173,000 members in over 7,500 clubs in over 100 countries. Britain has around 500 clubs. Woking Rotaract was chartered in 1978. We currently meet every 2nd and 4th Monday of each month in the Wheatsheaf Hotel, Horsell.
The organisation is based on small clubs which can vary in size from 10-50 members, and which regularly participate in events with other clubs in the surrounding Rotaract District. The club is open to anyone between the ages of 18-30 who want to make new friends, participate in a variety of activities, sports, community and fund-raising events.
Woking Rotaract has donated over £4,000 to various local charities in the past four years.
Sue Smith has been the President of Woking Rotaract for two years.
Further information, including a list of previous donations, can be found on the website www.woking-rotaract.org.uk, or from
info@woking-rotaract.org.uk
Notes: Victim Support
Victim Support is a national charity which can only operate successfully due to the fact they have over 13,000 volunteers who give of their time and energy to provide a free and confidential service to victims of crime.
Victim Support NW Surrey covers two areas, Woking and Surrey Heath and in the year to end of March 2003 provided support to over 1200 referrals which came from the police, other agencies and of course self referrals. The referrals have increased this year.
Veronica has been a volunteer visitor for 13 years and has dedicated herself to help victims of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. She even finds time to help with young offenders and is part of a team at HM Coldingley Prison where she tries to ensure that the reactions of victims of crime, both emotional and practically, are made known to the young offenders. Most offenders had little recognition of such reactions when perpetrating their crimes.
Mike Hardman has been a volunteer visitor for 9 years but his duties as Chairman, over the last 18 months, have greatly reduced the time he has available for supporting victims of crime which he very much regrets.
Photograph:
Veronica (Left) Victim Support volunteer and Sue Smith (Right) President of The Rotaract Club of Woking. Larger photo available on request.
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