Money will go to helping victims of sexual assault younger than 16
Jun 18, 2009 - 11:05 AM
By Melissa Mancini
OSHAWA -- Thanks to three teenagers, a local charity will be able to help young victims of sexual assault.
The Durham Rape Crisis Centre has $5,000 more to work into a tight budget because of a presentation three Dr. F.J. Donevan Collegiate Institute students worked on last semester.
The cash is from the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative. The project, run by the Toskan Casale Foundation, gives $5,000 cash to schools that apply. Then students at the schools research a local community group. The most thorough presentation gets the grant for students' chosen charity.
Emily Nicholson, Kate Mendonca and Kayla Fougere's winnings will help the charity set up a program for victims of sexual assault who are younger than 16. The Durham Rape Crisis Centre's regular funding comes from the Attorney General and is earmarked for specific programs. The organization is mandated to serve female community members 16 years of age or older with its government funds.
So there was no cash to create a program for very young women who are victims until now, crisis counsellor Lynn Cohen said.
"We get calls from a lot of younger women and we are unable to provide them with services," she said.
The girls said they chose the charity because they knew the money would really help.
"We really wanted to do something that helps people with what they struggle with," Emily said.
Karen MacLeod is the girls' civics teacher at Donevan. She has all of her students do group presentations about a local charity for their independent study unit at the end of the term.
She said the project is important because it's valuable for students to learn about charities and philanthropy at a young age.
"Hopefully it will become a lifelong habit of donating time or money to groups in the community."
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