AWARE thanks the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple for its generous donation in support of  AWARE’s  Support Services, Sexual Assault Befrienders Services, and  the We Can! End All Violence Against Women Campaign.

The Temple, located at Waterloo Street, is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Singapore, having been built in 1884. It is well known for its philanthropic work and has been an active contributor to social, educational causes and arts in Singapore.

Since 2008, the Temple has contributed substantially to  the operations and development of  AWARE’s Support Services. This financial support has enabled our Support Services to grow its staff  and volunteer capacity to increase its outreach to help more women and their families.

Compared to 2007, the number of calls received by the Helpline has increased by 73.41 per cent; counselling cases have increased five-fold and Legal Clinic cases have doubled. The funding has not only allowed us to increase our resources to address demand, but has also improved the quality of Support Services.

Generous donations from the Temple have supported AWARE in its efforts to reach out to the Chinese speaking community. Through the introduction of its first Mandarin Helpline training course, we now have an increased pool of Mandarin speaking Helpliners to meet the needs of our Chinese speaking callers.

This year, the funds will be used to improve existing Support Services facilities, and to increase the capacity of the Sexual Assault Befriender’s Service (SABS). Funds will also be channeled towards the We Can! End All Violence against Women Campaign. This campaign marks the 22nd anniversary of our Helpline and is AWARE’s major initiative to end violence against women by changing the social norms and attitudes that perpetuate gender violence.