Housing Plus White Tie Ball raises record amount for women and children fleeing domestic violence

About 320 guests and 30 sponsors attended the Housing Plus run event where they raised $88,000 for The Orchard to help women and children who are fleeing domestic and family violence.

Opened by Housing Plus in Orange in 2020, The Orchard is the first purpose-built core and cluster domestic violence accommodation facility in the state.

Housing Plus acting Chief Executive Officer Penny Dordoy said the money will be spent in a range of ways and she is grateful to those who attended.

"When somebody first arrives we give them food, every Monday morning we leave food bags at the doors of the clients so they have the basics, we provide all sorts of things, transport and clothes and sometimes we help them out with debts or whatever is holding them back," she said.

"There's so many small things, it might be toys for the kids, it could be specialist appointments for doctors, there's just so much that people need help with and that's where that money goes.

"It really takes everybody in that room to keep The Orchard running because that $88,000 is from ticket sales and from auctions, we're just so thankful for all the support really."

Jessica Hickman, the founder of Bullyology and co-founder of Central West Inspired Women, was the MC on the night and got involved after MCing the business awards last year.

"I really wanted to get involved because my business Bullyology specialises in providing awareness and education for bullying and harassment whether it's workplace, schools or community, so it's not often I don't hear of people also struggling at home with domestic and family violence and I often find the two are quite closely unfortunately interlinked," she said.

"I came on this year as a sponsor, in previous years I've done a cash donation but this year I waived my speaking fee to do a donation of time to support the cause.

"Also I'm a new mum, I had a baby 11 weeks ago so it was important to me that I do things like this supporting family and domestic violence."

Ms Dordoy said more people have been coming to Housing Plus for assistance since The Orchard opened.

"I think one of the things is when you start promoting the fact that there is somewhere to go and the fact that it is somewhere really safe and somewhere that's really appealing then more people report and more people leave the violence," she said.

Ms Dordoy said the Orchard was designed to be a "place that is private and it can take your family and you won't have to live in another family's pocket and it gives you privacy and dignity and a chance to recover in private and then access services right at your doorstop when you need them".

The Orchard also offers services beyond basic accommodation with one anecdote provided at the ball coming from a girl who described how staff helped her prepare for her year 6 formal and organised for her to get her hair and makeup done.

"Part of the recovery from domestic violence is getting the family back on track and reintegrating them into the community and supporting them to have normal lives like everybody else," Ms Dordoy said.

"We've got entire families into private school via scholarships, whatever the family needs at the time is what we do."

She said at the moment a group of women who are either staying at The Orchard at the moment, or have stayed in The Orchard in past have formed a study group while they do a Certificate III.

"It's kind of like a support group but it's a support group to get people a Cert III and to progress their lives," Ms Dordoy said.

"We also have a peer support group where old and current residents get together and sometimes they might cook or do something and sometimes there's a bit of learning.

"We do all sorts of things to create a community and a community on the outside as well."

As part of that people who have moved on from the centre are often encouraged to return.

"Once you go through the crisis then sometimes women want to stay connected and that's exactly what we do, they might come back and be part of a group and in the future we want people to come and volunteer," Ms Dordoy said.

"We do have volunteers but I don't think any of them are ex clients at the moment. We want people to come and give back.

"Sometimes it helps them feel like they have something to do, they have a purpose and just keeps them connected so if things do start to go down hill for them then it's easy to reach out. "

"You can't really fix domestic violence, you're either in a violent relationship or you're out of one so sometimes you're working on some of the other things in the family's life that you can change, that you can work towards while they're recovering and building up their self confidence and building up relationships again and getting back out into work and into school and to church and whatever it for that family that they want to do."

Ms Dordoy aid 61 women and 76 children have stayed at the Orchard since it opened.

"It would be more except people get stuck in there because there's no houses to exit people into so we have people staying for longer because of the housing crisis so we don't have the turnover we'd like," she said.

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