Participants in NCS (National Citizen Service) are running the #CRUSHTHEHUSH2020 a Fundraising Campaign to support Women Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
The following article is written by the NCS participants who picked Quetzal as their charity of choice.
Quetzal is thankful for the support displayed by the young citizens and hope through this campaign more women victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse can in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland will know that we are here to support them.
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Why did we choose Quetzal as our charity of choice for the NCS programme?
Quetzal’s message spoke to us as a team on a personal level. As a team, imagining seeing female members of our family or friends in a situation where they were too scared to seek help or not being able to afford counselling after any sort of abuse or trauma is heart-wrenching. Quetzal seeks to provide help and 6, free 50-minute counselling sessions to every member of the community who has nowhere else left to turn, no matter their ethnic or social background. Some of these people are the most vulnerable and with funding, Quetzal can reach out to the most vulnerable in society and help them gain the confidence to speak out and eliminate the stigma about their trauma.
Now, more than ever, is a vital time for raising support for Quetzal and making people aware that their services are still there to support women. During COVID-19 and the UK lockdown, the number of people they have been helping has halved from 300 around the Leicestershire and Rutland area in 2019 to 130. This is because many women are led to believe that Quetzal’s services have stopped during the pandemic – meaning they feel trapped at home with no guidance on how to seek help.
What we plan to do with Quetzal?
As participants in NCS (National Citizenship Service), we have been tasked with helping our local community and creating a campaign to spread awareness for a local charity that we believe in. On Instagram we created a challenge to #CrushtheHush2020, where you crush an item with a trauma written on it and nominate a friend to do the same. We have also updated the Instagram aesthetic and biography to make the layout more user-friendly and making information more accessible for everyone. In the local community, we have given leaflets to independent businesses to share with their customers and made contact with relevant charities who may have closer links to the main demographic of vulnerable people that Quetzal are striving to help.
Raising Funds
We have set up our own donation system in an effort to raise at least £100 for Quetzal. We have been promoting this donation system using our own personal social media platforms and posting in local Facebook groups explaining the positive influence of Quetzal.
