Bryony House is one of the Transition Houses in Nova Scotia that provides live saving services for women who are seeking shelter from domestic violence.
Bryony Houses is running a major deficit that has resulted in cuts to their program / staff. We need to demand that the government works to rectify this immediately. The outreach program that is no longer in existence at Bryony House in it's full capacity literally does save lives. We cannot put a price on that.
Although the NDP government has moved forward much needed funding that was planned in year two of their budgets to 2010, we have to keep in mind what that really means. $500,000.00 divided by all the transition houses and women's shelters in Nova Scotia = a drop in the bucket ($25k each - approx). Consider that Bryony House is over $120k in debt right now... the NDP budgeted amount will do nothing to alleviate that.
The Friends of Transition Houses Network does not view this as a relief. If this is happening at Bryony House, the oldest and largest house in Nova Scotia... just what trials and tribulations will the other houses in our province be in? Let's not sit by and wait for that to happen.
You will find a letter addressed to Premier Dexter on the top right hand side of this page. I encourage you to take this letter as a template, use your own words, sign it and send it to Premier Darrell Dexter, the Minister of Community Services Denise Peterson-Rafuse, and your local MLA. Demand action for Bryony House now to reinstate the Outreach Program, cover off their debt and together we can continue to strive to ensure there is sufficient funding for the future of all transition houses.
We have already seen results from the Nova Scotia Government in moving funding up, something we pushed for... let's continue on and strive to strengthen and secure these imperative services for the women and children in Nova Scotia who need it.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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