Margaret Hodge and Luciana Berger help raise £250K for domestic abuse charity
The Labour MP for Barking spoke at the inaugural fundraising dinner for Jewish Women's Aid, held in London last week
Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge hailed the “especially important” work undertaken by Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA), which held its inaugural fundraising dinner last week.
More than 300 guests, including Luciana Berger, who sits as an independent MP for Liverpool and Wavertree, attended the event in Swiss Cottage on Wednesday night, which helped raise more than £250,000 for domestic abuse support services.
The charity also officially launched its new Dina service, a dedicated support line providing specialist counselling for Jewish women and girls over 16, who have been affected by sexual violence.
Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up
During an appeal, JWA co-chairs Liz Gould and Hilda Worth highlighted how despite working with more than 600 women last year and currently undertaking 60 active cases – amounting to an increase of 500 percent in demand of its services – government funding for domestic abuse organisations had decreased by 75 per cent.
Echoing these sentiments, keynote speaker Dame Margaret, Labour MP for Barking, said: “From my perspective, the work of this organisation is particularly important at this time. We are in a situation where two thirds [of local authorities] have cut their services and one in five specialist refuges have gone in just a five-year period.”
Dame Margaret also reflected on how being a woman had affected her career and why “feminism was always a central part of her politics.”
She recalled: “Ironically I came into politics because I was a woman. I thought I wanted to be a stay-at-home mum, but much as I adored my four children, I got bored. A Labour friend of mine told me to go onto the council – ‘it’ll keep you sane while you’re changing nappies’ – and I never looked back.”
On the issue of antisemitism in the Labour party, over which the MP has publicly clashed with leader Jeremy Corbyn, Dame Margaret said she would continue to “fight for the heart and soul of the party and restore it to the values that underpinned it when I joined aged 18”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
-
By Brigit Grant
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)