Ayrshire charity expecting triple the usual demand over Christmas
The Women's Hub say the festive period can be worse for people in abusive relationships
The Women’s Hub is warning this time of year can be the most difficult for women facing domestic abuse, as they struggle the added pressure of the Festive season.
The newly registered charity, formerly the Ayrshire Women’s Hub, is appealing for donations to help with the additional demand for their services over Christmas.
Women often choose to remain in abusive relationships around the holidays, to avoid disrupting their family life, and this can see triple the number of people seeking help from the Hub.
The organisation’s Angie-Leigh McPike said: “When you’re seeing everyone else having a great time, it looks like everyone else has the perfect family, and you yourself are trying to create that in your own family.
“It becomes more stressful, it becomes more demanding, and for us it’s usually when thing really start to escalate and the demand for our services becomes more and more.”
While the charity does provide support to women facing abusive relationships, it also has a number of services to help families who might be struggling.
The Hub provides complete care packages of support to families, including food items to last across the holidays, essential toiletries, baby items, gas and electric top ups, as well as gifts for families to open on Christmas morning.
Angie-Leigh added: “We’re not just a one hit wonder, we don’t just pop up at Christmas, we do this every single day of the year, that includes Christmas Day.
“A lot of the time my staff are on call, they’re there to deliver any type of works and to be there at the point of when that person needs it.”
It has only recently been given charity status, so the organisation is looking for as much support as possible to keep their services running.
Angie-Leigh is urging local businesses to take the time to help them saying: “We need support, we need help.
“Donations now as a charity make up the biggest majority of the funds that we receive, so please, please support us.”
They support more than 5,000 women and girls in Ayrshire every year, and details of their services can be found on their website.