THE HAVEN WOLVERHAMPTON
Volunteer Service Newsletter MARCH - JUNE 2017
Dear readers, As you might be aware, The Haven Volunteer Service is vital for the good running of the organisation. Every year many volunteers give their free time to help raise funds and support the running and delivery of The Haven services. Volunteers are usually encouraged to volunteer across different departments, being able to develop different roles and boost their skills whilst gaining work experience supporting vulnerable women and children. This newsletter has been put together in order to share volunteers experiences and promote all the activities and events taking place at The Haven. Please, don’t forget to check inside to find out more about all the activities the volunteers are organising and participating in! Why not join them and make a difference? Enjoy! The Newsletter Team Editorial:
In this issue... You will be able to find all the events the volunteers have been part of, like conferences, theme events, workshops, fundraising events and much more! In fact, which a whirlwind the past few months have been! Keep reading in pages 2, 3 and 4 Activities, trainings and support groups running at the moment at The Haven Women’s Hub or across our 6 refuges Keep reading in page 5 Corporate volunteering Keep reading in pages 6 and 7 Achievements Case Study
Keep reading in page 8 Keep reading in page 9
Recipes Did you miss eating some of the dishes prepared at The cake baking and decoration class or at The National Vegetarian’s Week? Do not worry! We have included some of the recipes our volunteers prepared at those events! Keep reading in page 10
Seda Nur Türker Flavia D’Alessandro Valentina Lia Noemi Amideo Marina Rey Elena Pawlak Sonya Strauss Victor Garcia Javier Rodriguez Sheila Rodriguez Graphic Designer and Illustrator: Sheila Rodriguez Management: Marta Rios
The opinions expressed in this magazine are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of The Haven Wolverhampton
Events Women’s March - The Love Revolution
4 March 2017
The Wolverhampton Women’s March was an emotional, uplifting and inspiring day for all who took part. The event’s aim was to raise awareness of inequality, injustice and many other complex issues affecting women and children living in today’s society. The Haven decided to provide their support and joined this march. It was overwhelming to see so many people united to support women’s rights!
Mother’s Day
23 March 2017
The Mother’s Day event was a particularly heart-warming, special and succesful day organised by some of our european volunteers at each refuge. Entertaiment and events included card making, baking and dancing. The day was focus on making the mothers feel very appreciated and loved by their children despite the difficult and often traumatic situations that they left behind. This was a time for bonding with their children. Also it gave an opportunity for the children to acknowledge and reaffirm the importance of their mothers in their lives. We are really appreciative of the contributions made by the retailers at Merry Hill, who donated items including makeup, accesories and lovely products that enabled to create beautiful pamper boxes for the mothers. Thank you for making the mothers to feel valuable and special!
Mayor’s lunch - Residents Week
7 April 2017
During Residents Week, The Haven Wolverhampton was honoured to attend a lunch with Wolverhampton Mayor, Councillor Barry Findlay in appreciation and acknowlegement of the contribution and support of our volunteers to the city of Wolverhampton. It’s estimated volunteers bring a value of around £171 million to the city’s economy annually. In fact, we simply couldn’t continue to provide the range of services and the level of support we do to vulnerable women and children without our volunteers - we are so grateful to each and every one of them.
Easter
20 April 2017
Many donations and Easter eggs were generously given by retailers and corporates to celebrate Easter Holiday. Thanks to their kind contributions our volunteers were able to organise different activities at each refuge. Games, Easter egg hunts, Easter sweets with chocolate and cornflakes, egg painting and other arts and crafts would have not taken place without their generosity. This allowed the children to have much needed fun, and a way to express their artistic abilities, including chocolate easter egg eating, which they all excelled in!
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Events Cake making and decorating class
19 May 2017
A wonderful, lovely and creative day making cupcakes and decorating them was organised by Lloyd’s Bank with the support of our EVS volunteers. They kindly volunteered their time and expertise in showing our service users how to make delicious cupcakes. The event was a success and our women had the chance to develop a new skill, one that they can share with their children and other women.
National Vegetarian Week
19 May 2017
In celebration of National Vegetarian Week, volunteers Jackie and Flavia, organised an all-day event at St. Marks Refuge. The aim was to promote healthy eating by showing women how to cook vegetarian meals from different cultures and encourage their children to eat more vegetables. It was also considered to be beneficial for the women living at different refuges as they had the opportunity to meet each other and develop a sense of community. The contributions made by our volunteers guaranteed that the day was entertaining and a great success. The service users and their children took part in creating the delicious meals and sharing food with each other. Arts&craft were available to entertain the children including face painting, making chef’s hats, painting and drawing. All the children tried the food and loved experiencing new flavours and such tasty international dishes! We would like to take this opportunity to thank The National Vegetarian Society for sponsoring this event.
Inflatable 5K
21 May 2017
The Haven was chosen as the charity partner for the event and was given a stand and an allocated amount of running spaces. We are delighted to say we raised £1,254 with money still coming in! The volunteers were amazing on the day and helped by providing a support network to encourage the runners, supplied them with water and also handed out their welldeserved medals and t-shirts when runners completed the race. Hannah Boote, Fundraising Officer said: “This awareness stand and partnership was an invaluable opportunity for us at the Haven and gave us a reach of over 4000 people who attended the event. We had 22 incredible volunteers and we all had an amazing day. We couldn’t participate in events like this and make the most of these opportunities to raise vital funds and awareness for The Haven without the support of enthusiastic and supportive volunteers – Thank you!”
We take this opportunity to offer our appreciation and heartfelt thanks to the volunteers, sponsors and those who participated in this event.
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Events Paper Little Slipper Workshop
6-7 June 2017
Marie-Louise Jones, founder of Little Paper Slippers charity organisation visited one of our refuges to engage the service users in a domestic abuse workshop. Her organisation uses paper shoes as therapeutic art for the women to decorate and to empower them. The workshop provided an outlet for the women to express their feelings and talk about their experiences. “It was a fantastic workshop, all the women involved had a really good time and created very meaningful designs” - Marina, EVS
Removing the shame and guilt Conference
10 June 2017
The Haven held an exhibitor stand at the Removing the Shame and Guilt Conference at Birmingham City University. “The conference was brilliant, it provided a safe space for victims to speak out or come forward without having to deal with the stigma that many victims of sexual violence and abuse often feel. We are so grateful to have been a part of the event and it gave us the opportunity to raise much needed awareness of our services.” - Hanifa, Fundraising officer
Drayton Manor and Cadbury day trips
14-17 June 2017
A fantastic and fun filled day was enjoyed by the mothers and their children who went on the day trips to Drayton Manor and Cadbury. It was an exciting time for the children and allowed them and their mothers a day off from the refuge. They were accompanied by some of our volunteers. Everyone had happy fun filled time allowing the mothers and children to bond and strengthen their relationships in a relaxed enviroment. The visit to Drayton Manor was sponsored by Kids Out. The trip allowed them to visit many attractions and see the animals at the zoo. Kids out and Mondelez International sponsored the visit to Cadbury World. There the service users saw how chocolate is made while eating it. A delicious way to learn! We offer our deepest gratitude and thanks to Kids out and Mondelez International, for making the day trip an incredible exciting day for the children. We know that the happy memories made will remain with our services users for a very long time.
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Activities, Trainings & Support Groups The Haven Wolverhampton provides a lot of activities and support groups both in refuge and in the community to help in the recovery of the women and children that access our services.
Activities Play sessions for children: “We provide different activities for all the children in each refuge. In spring we planted funny grass heads and baked salt dough figures to colour. The children presented their own puppet show with self-made puppets, stage setting and storyline. Now in summer, we are spending a lot of time in the garden, swinging, playing hide and seek or tag. We also do a lot of arts and craft like ‘batik dyeing’ our own t-shirts and bags which the children wear proudly. They created some colourful designs like rainbow stripes or circles.” - Elena, EVS Activities for the mothers: We are running self-defense classes, for the women to learn how to defend themselves, build their self-esteem or manage a moment of panic. Also one of the activities promoted is the ladies night, where the women can spend some time without their children, they can talk, eat some food together and also play some games as bingo, karaoke singing or watch some movies. Zumba, Cooking Classes and Make-Up Lessons are also activities running right now in every refuge so our service users can continue learning and doing something different.
Therapeutic Support and Counselling Counselling helps our women to explore their feelings and emotions that are often related to their experiences. The sessions are held in confidential settings with empathy and respect shown to those who express their feelings. The sessions offer support on coping with challenges and making positive changes in their lives. We would like to thank our trainee counsellors for their great proffesionalism, commitment and dedication. Coffee mornings and different support groups are also being delivered at The Haven Women’s Hub. Some of them as are follows: Freedom programme, Power to Change and Peer mentoring programme, Believe and Breaking Free support groups.
Trainings Do you want to know more about Domestic abuse? Here you have some of our trainings: Domestic Abuse Awareness, Domestic Homicide Reviews, FGM Awareness, Safeguarding, Early Help, Confidentiality and Information Sharing.
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For further information email Rebecca.matthews@havenrefuge.org.uk
Corporate Volunteering We are incredibly grateful to all of the wonderful volunteers from LLOYDS BANK, MARKS & SPENCERS and MARSTONS who chose The Haven Wolverhampton to volunteer their time and support with rooms and gardens makeovers! It is only thanks to the support of organisations like themselves and the community that we can make the stay of women and children in our hostels much easier and continue running vital services for them! Once again, thanks a lot for your support. We are looking forward to continue working together in different projects and activities in the near future!
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Corporate Volunteering Marston’s volunteers refurbished one of our refuges completely! In the garden, they added new plants and an allotment area for the women to grow their own vegetables. They also included a new lovely seating area and a wild garden for the kids to explore, with lots of fun creepy crawly facts and lots of things to find! The counselling room is now a calm sanctuary for the women who need to talk and the lounge is now a homely space for our women and children.
Volunteers from A.F. Blakemore and UK Electrical spent a week upgrading the electrical fittings to energy-efficient alternatives at on of our refuges as part of A.F. Blakemore’s Environmental Focus Week. Throughout the week the team replaced all bedrooms, corridor and communal lighting with LED fittings, also they installed light sensors and LED floodlights.
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Volunteer Service Achievements The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service We are delighted to announce that The Haven Wolverhampton has been awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service this year that is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise the outstanding work done in their own communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of The Queen’s coronation and it is a prestigious award equivalent to an MBE. Winners were announced on 2nd June in the Court Gazette. Also, on 1st June 2016 we were invited to a relaxed afternoon in the beautiful gardens of Buckingham Palace. Our volunteer service manager, Marta Ríos and peer mentor Sara Finch, attended this lovely event. This was a wonderful experience as they had the chance to meet the Queen and speak to a broad range of people and dignitaries. We have been asked to organise an official presentation for this award. The guests should be primarily volunteers or individuals directly involved in The Haven. This is the main reason why we have decided to join our annual Volunteers Awards Ceremony (which usually takes place in June during the Volunteer’s Week) with the presentation of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This ceremony will take place on Friday 13th October during DV Awareness month. All volunteers welcome!
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Volunteering Case Study: Pamela Walker “If I can do it so can anyone else” I have always been a person that liked to help people. This is why I started volunteering at The Haven in March 2015. Due to my teaching experience and qualifications I was able to set up an English support group for women whose English was not their first language. My main role was organising different learning activities in order to help them with their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.
to
communicate
better
“I am very grateful for Pam’s support. She gave me the confident to enrol in a local ESOL course and helped me with staff and other service users“ (Service user)
A few months later, I began a placement within the emergency accommodation services. This experience allowed me to draw on my existing skills and develop new skills in the area of being a Family Support Worker. I met with the service users and their children who suffered from domestic abuse and homelessness. My role involved preparing rooms for women who were new arrivals, giving them a tour around the premises, filling out relevant paperwork, to support them to engage with other internal and external agencies, and organising both structured and informal activities to support them to transition from abuse to independence. During my volunteering experience, I had also the opportunity to access professional training and working across different departments of the organisation such as the 24hr helpline, fundraising, Volunteer Service, Community support, Children’s Services and Activities Engagement. This gave me the confidence to apply for sessional work as a Family Support Worker at The Haven as I had gained sufficient experience and enhanced my existing skills and competences. I was successful in obtaining that position and gained further experience within the organisation. This also led to a short-term sessional position as Engagement Support Worker. In this role I worked more closely with volunteers, providing mentoring support and developing additional activities and opportunities for the women to engage. In October 2016, the position for a Telephone Debt Advisor came available and I was encouraged to put myself forward for the job. I did and I was successful in securing the position. I am now a part-time staff member and I enjoy this role very much because I get to help the women to achieve economic wellbeing. Volunteering is highly recommended and a rewarding experience, especially if there is a well-structured volunteering programme in place. I have always wanted to work at The Haven. I started at the bottom of the ladder and worked my way up to employment so I couldn’t be more grateful for the support received during this challenging but enlightening journey. “Pamela has been a source of inspiration for other volunteers. She clearly embraced the values of The Haven and has helped to communicate them to the wider community. Her commitment to work, high motivation and teamwork spirit were exceptional. Her work has been really positive and inspiring and we are very proud of her achievements” -Marta Rios (Volunteer Engagement Lead)
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Recipes If you missed some of the recipes done at some of the events, don’t worry, here are some of the most delicious recipes:
Vegetables with coconut milk
National Vegetarian Week
1 small onion, 2 cloves garlic 1 crougette, 2 carrots, 2 pepper, 5-6 tomates, 2 potatos, peas, 2 aubergine, broccoli 2 spoon of curry powder, 1 red chili or cayenne pepper (optional) 350 gr rice To cook the rice, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the rinsed rice and continue boiling for 30 minutes, reducing heat as necessary to prevent overflow. Remove from heat, drain the rice and return the rice to pot. Cover and let the rice rest for 10 minutes or longer, until you’re ready to serve. Just before serving, season the rice to taste with salt and fluff it with a fork. In a large saucepan or pot to medium heat add olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, broccoli, potatos, peppers , aubergine , crougette and pinch each salt , water and pepper and stir. Cook stirring frequently, until softened - about 5 minutes. Add curry powder, cayenne (or chili pepper), coconut milk, another healthy pinch of salt and stir. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat slightly and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes. Add peas and tomatoes in the last 5 minutes so they don’t overcook. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. I added another pinch or two of salt. Serve over rice.
Layered fruit cake
Cake decoration day
6 Eggs 1 Pinch of salt 200 g sugar 180 g flour 60 g corn starch 1 tea spoon baking powder 60 g melted butter Preheat the oven to 175C. Put baking paper in the baking form. Mix the eggs, salt and the sugar for about 15 min until the texture is creamy, white and stiff. Mix flour, corn starch, baking powder and sieve it into the egg mixture. Add the melted butter and carefully mix everything with a kitchen scraper without loosing the air in the mixture Bake it about 25-30 Min. and let it cool completely. Then cut it in 2 or 3 layers.
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