The Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust

People are leaving Gloriavale and we need your help! (Another family just left in mid-October and then a family of 12 left a week later.) With your support we will help them resettle quickly. Families usually leave quickly, some under the cover of darkness, with very few personal possessions. They need a lot of ongoing help to enable them to become independent members of society. Some families leave with more than 10 children.

Our group has been working voluntarily for many years to settle ex-Gloriavale families, but the job is getting bigger. This Charitable Trust enables us to do the work in a more cohesive way. We need immediate and ongoing funds to employ a support worker who will liaise with the families and other groups & agencies who can meet their practical, financial, emotional, spiritual, and educational needs.

Gloriavale leavers are in a unique category in our country. Once they have left the community, it's likely they won't be able to make contact with their friends and family who they have left behind. It's a very difficult transition for them. They have many similar practical needs to migrants and refugees, but there are no Government funds available, or programmes which are set up to help them specifically.

We have many goals and targets for our fundraising appeal.

We need money for Trust Operational Costs, support worker wages, money to help the families settle in until they get jobs. (ie contributing to a vehicle for their family, setting up house, schooling, medical expenses, food etc), and a whole host of other related activities.

We want to thank the public for their amazing kindness and interest in those leaving Gloriavale. Your donations will be well used. Our Trust has 8 members who have first and foremost been involved with Gloriavale leavers for many years, along with useful skills in business and management. But we need your support to continue the great work that has already been done. Please ask your friends and business contacts if they would consider donating to our Trust.

Paste this link in your browser to see the Trust Manager’s interview with Duncan Garner on the AM Breakfast Show: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/07/what-happens-after-people-leave-gloriavale.html?fbclid=IwAR2A8Fe5tYNUdgZwbNOHPZTxUtugXnadGvFd57qocB964-AY4kLQWxLsJeE

Paste this link into your browser to see a TVNZ Seven Sharp interview from August 2018 with the Trust's Manager Liz Gregory: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/seven-sharp/clips/timaru-couple-providing-first-landing-pad-for-others-who-left-west-coast-s-gloriavale-commune

The Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust exists to support people who have left the reclusive Gloriavale Community. We support in practical, financial, spiritual, emotional and educational matters. We employ a support worker & are grateful for your help.

As listed above, the Trust needs funds to pay a support worker, pay for Trust costs, support families when they first leave, get legal help, and start a research project.