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Strawberry Fair Supports the Rape Crisis Center

Tamroonii | 09.06.2009 10:12 | Gender | Health | Social Struggles | Cambridge

Along with international campaigns, Cambridge City Amnesty International collected over 150 signatures in support of the Cambridge Rape Crisis Center, which is constantly under threat from lack of funding.

Collecting signatures at Strawberry Fair
Collecting signatures at Strawberry Fair


Cambridge City Amnesty International would like to thank everyone who came to their Stall at strawberry fair on Saturday and supported their campaigns for Justine Bihamba in the DRC, Barbara Mendez in Mexico and the Cambridge Rape Crisis Center.

The Cambridge Rape Crisis Center ( http://www.cambridgerapecrisis.co.uk/) runs a free, independent and confidential helpline for women and girls of any age who have experienced rape or abuse at any time in their lives. Unfortunately, the centre has struggled with a lack of funds for quite some time – having to close for some months in the summer of 2007.

This year, the Cambridge Rape Crisis Center received £683 funding from the Cambridge City Council, out of their £11266 grant application. It can now afford to be open for just 2 hours each week which is not enough to cope with the volume of calls received.

At the stall on Saturday was a visual petition for the Rape Crisis Center- a 3ft paper strawberry plant. People who came to the stall wrote their name on a paper strawberry and pinned it to the plant in support of the Cambridge rape crisis center.

The strawberry plant, with its full branches of strawberries, will be passed onto the local council along with a letter asking for sufficient funding for the CRCC. So thank you once again! All of us on the stall had an excellent strawberry fair and we hope you did too!

Tamroonii
- e-mail: zoem99@hotmail.com
- Homepage: http://cambridge.amnesty.org.uk/


Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

amnesty's and its money

09.06.2009 12:52

amnesty in london has the swankiest offices ever. if they handed over just one month's rent on that building they could fund this helpline for a long long time...

not to take away from your good work i wish you all the best with the petition and i do realise you aren't london amnesty but still, maybe a petition to amnesty london would solve it faster?

negative one


re: amnesty london

10.06.2009 08:58

You'll be pleased to know that Amnesty cambridge doesn't have any buildings so thats not an issue locally. Please also note that Amnesty International is a big organsation. Apart from campaigning for human rights across the world, the central offices in each country conduct a large amount of research and media consultation which requires a base and expenditure. Amnesty UK (londond) is a respected point of information for media networks, it conducts studies and assembles reports on a large variety of human rights issues, it also co-ordinates the smaller 'free' campaigning around the country. The point being that it has been built up into a big organisation because it can achieve more that way We could say close it down and give that money to a good cause. I would say however that the money is an investment in human rights. Amnesty will help lots of good causes by existing instead of helping one good cause by giving away its running costs. Just my tuppence worth.

Tamroonii


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