York charity 'helping 400 vulnerable women a week'
Kyra Women's Project is marking International Women's Day.
Kyra Women's Project in York says it's helping more than 400 women a week.
The charity is currently providing support online because of the pandemic, and a doing a week of events and activities to mark International Women's Day (8th March).
Rosemary Cook is the interim Chief Executive, and told Greatest Hits Radio York: "We're calling it International Women's Week, and we have a variety of panels and wellbeing sessions planned.
"The pandemic has really highlighted the importance of support for women. What we want to do is recognise the hardship of women who have struggled during the last year, such as those who have suffered domestic abuse at home, are isolated or can't get work.
"However, we also want to celebrate the resilience of those women, and the opportunities that there are now. We try and put forward those opportunities for women.
"We've had a lot to do during the pandemic, and we've been supporting more than 400 women a week during lockdown. We've surveyed them recently and 67% of them said this support had helped their recovery from very difficult circumstances; we know we can help in this way, but we're looking forward to helping face to face again.
"The pandemic has exacerbated these issues, and that figure (400+) is probably higher than the number of people who used to come through the doors when we were open. We've also brought in a new service with a weekly phone service to members of Kyra who need that kind of support.
"We recognise that everybody has support needs, and we know that men have issues and difficulties - we just believe that those are different to the issues and difficulties that women face.
"Our particular project is focused on supporting women, and it's a good thing that there are other groups and charities supporting men. This week we want to celebrate women and everything that they can do with the right support".
Rosemary is also hopeful that the roadmap out of lockdown can offer some light at the end of the tunnel for women who are struggling: "Everything that happens to women in York is replicated across the country, and we need that new freedom to go out into the world.
"There's nothing quite like face to face support, but we're delighted that the support that we're giving online has helped".
The team at Kyra are also planning two new projects - one for women recovering from mental ill-health or domestic abuse, and one for women in touch with justice system or at risk of offending.
They're also planning to re-open the premises after lockdown on April 12th.
More information on the events being planned throughout the week can be found here.