Battered Women’s Support Services is asking for your support!
It’s all about your Facebook Vote!
Thanks for your commitment to ending violence against women,
Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) was recently nominated into the “Lilith Festival: A Celebration of Women in Music” Choose Your Charity Program! The contest has been launched through a Facebook Campaign. If we win, $1 of every ticket sold will be donated to BWSS. Thank you for your commitment to the ending violence against women work we engage in every day and we need you to ensure we win. Please don’t delay make sure you vote in this Facebook campaign. Please ask all your friends and contacts to vote also. We are grateful for your ongoing support of BWSS, and are relying on YOU to ensure that we win.
HOW TO VOTE?
You must be on Facebook to vote. Become a fan of the Lilith Fair Fan Page first: http://www.facebook.com/lilithfairtour. Then go to this link to choose the city (Vancouver) and then vote for thehttp://www.facebook.com/lilithfairtour?v=app_104790469551801# .
There are several other incredible women’s organizations listed with us and we have much respect each and everyone of them.
Who We Are and What We Do
Violence Against Women is the most pressing social issue of our times however it is often made invisible. It is a hidden epidemic of vast proportions and it is one of the most serious human rights violations in the world because over half the women in Canada confirmed to be impacted by violence. The issue of violence against women and male abuse of power and control are realities in our world. In 2000, according to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, globally at least one in three women and girls is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. According to Stats Canada 1993 report, in Canada alone, one in three women is a victim of assault by husband or male partner, with one in every five is assaulted during pregnancy. Statistics Canada reported in 2006, that in Canada almost 75 women are murdered at the hands of her partner each year and thousands live each day in fear.
A determined group of women started Battered Women’s Support Services in 1979. Over the years, BWSS has grown into a strong and dynamic organization. We continue to provide support and advocacy for women who have experienced abuse, as well as, training and education about violence against women. In 2008, we re-visioned our mandate of system advocacy and law reform. As part of the feminist anti-violence movement, our long-term goal is the elimination of all violence against women. In 2010, we launched The Violence Stops Here Campaign taking the anti violence message straight into the 21st Century recognizing that violence against women isn’t only a woman’s issue but is clearly an issue for men.
Critical and Essential Services
Battered Women’s Support Services responds to over 8,000 direct service requests, in 2008:
Over 5460 women called our Crisis Line
Over 1300 women accessed Crisis Support and Accompaniment
Over 2304 women accessed Counselling
Over 3650 Counselling sessions were provided
Over 980 women accessed Support Groups
Over 2,000 women accessed legal advocacy & received support with legal issues
Over 1,200 women who were starting over received clothing and/or household items
Over 1,000 women, men, and youth participated in training and prevention activities
BWSS Provides:
• Crisis Support
• Counselling – Long term and Stopping the Violence Counselling
• Victim Services
• Legal Advocacy
• Aboriginal Women’s Program
• Latin American Women’s Program
• Violence Prevention & Intervention Volunteer Training
• Law Reform
• Retail Program
• Strategic Interventions Training for Service Providers
• Social Enterprise
All our services are provided by trained workers who work from an empowerment model and from a feminist, anti-oppression perspective.
BWSS is located in downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada.
We provide services, information, training and referrals throughout Metro Vancouver, the province of BC, nationally and internationally.
Visit us at www.bwss.org or www.theviolencestopshere.ca Feel free to email at strategicinterventions@bwss.org or call us at 604-687-1868
