Lending a helping hand to women in need

Do you feel frustrated, anxious, or outraged when you read articles in the newspaper about sexual or physically violent assaults against women? In light of the Pickton trial, are you concerned about women who have gone or continue to go missing? Or Lower Mainland women who have been found murdered with their husbands as prime suspects? Do you have daughters, sisters, or mothers that you are concerned about?

Well, there is something you can do to both help others and to alleviate your own sense of helplessness and other debilitating emotions.

Vancouver's Rape Relief and Women's Shelter are looking for volunteers for their 24-hour rape crisis line and transition house.

Training is free and begins immediately, and surely some of the skills you learn can be used to help other women or needy people in your life.

Interested? Call 604-872-8212 to book your training session.

A lesbian friend pointed out that there is controversy about the organization's policy and treatment of transgendered people. For more information about this issue, read Shannon Rupp's cover story from 2005.