With almost twenty thousand dollars raised or pledged to help keep the national OUTLine telephone counseling and support service operating at full strength, OUTLine chair Lorraine Martin says the stress associated with recent funding shortfalls has been much alleviated. Just weeks ago OUTLine announced it was having to temporarily dis-establish its General Manager position and was preparing for cutbacks to its services, which include the national telephone counseling service, outreach and policy development support work. The cause was a drop in available funding from sources such as the Lotteries Commission due to the effects of the economic recession and international financial market melt-down. "It's fair to say no one here anticipated quite this level of response from people and organisations within the glbt communities," a clearly relieved Martin says. Reflecting the view of many that in recent years New Zealand's glbt communities have become more fractured and less willing to get involved in community projects and activities, Martin says it's "great to see the community we support coming forward to support us." Even if the OUTLine October fundraising initiative reaches its $30,000 target, Martin says OUTLine will still have to be tight with the chequebook. Board members will still step in to cover day to day management tasks for some weeks, or months, yet, but the full range of OUTLine services can now more confidently continue. Martin says the board is working hard to identify and develop a broader range of funding sources to decrease the likelihood of the current cash crisis being repeated in the future.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 12th October 2009 - 1:46pm