R&R Relay for Refuge
R&R students are running/walking a loop of R&R for the 72 hours that level 4 was estimated to persist to raise money for Women's Refuge.
Canterbury
R&R is a first-year halls of residence at the University of Canterbury consisting of 193 students.
Our Why:
The level 4 announcement meant that for many of our students, they are stuck in the Hall until further notice. This prompted action from the students to not only increase their activity and focus during lockdown, but also in hope to provide for women adversely affected during lockdown due to domestic violence and hardship.
Our What:
The students are running/walking a loop of R&R, which is approximately 500 metres, for the 72 hours that level 4 was estimated to persist.
Our Who:
The full donation will be provided to Women's Refuge. Women's Refuge is an organisation dedicated to helping women and children experiencing family violence. The organisation's need escalated during the Covid-19 lockdowns due to victims being isolated from extended support networks and instead living with their abusers.
Latest update
Relay for Refuge is complete 26 August 2021
Our R&R Relay for Refuge page has officially closed. The Hall raised $5070 for Women's Refuge NZ, which will be distributed around Aotearoa to their respective branches. When deciding on a charity, one thing that was important to us was that it would impact beyond just Ōtautahi, Christchurch, as while that is where we are based, we recognise our students travel from all around Aotearoa so our charity should reflect that.
The idea stemmed from Catie, who was wondering how she could run her 30km in training for a marathon while we were in our bubble. Josh and Will extended the idea to a day-relay-run around the hall, and then Joel, a Tutor, jokingly said we should do it for the 72 hours of level 4... and well... the students picked up this idea and literally ran with it. At 11pm (T-Minus 1 hour until lockdown) Will gathered up a group of students to start the graveyard shift and it never stopped. While our numbers dwindled from 193 students to 65, the pace continued and the student's walked/ran/biked/skated over 2000km in the 72 hours!
For some students, namely Josh C, Alex, Daniel the shifts never ended and the sleep hours became very minimal. Alex celebrated his birthday with a 2am-7am shift which I am sure he will remember for the rest of his life. We had people getting towed on boogie boards (good work Maddi), Greta whipped out the roller blades and unfortunately they couldn't convince the tutors to let them on the shopping trolleys (sorry Hazel, Leah and Maia).
This relay brought so much life to the hall and helped the students push through what was a very confusing time in their lives. Although there were a few setbacks, they should be extremely proud of coming together in an uncertain time for a greater cause and finishing the 72 hours.
Thank you to everyone who has donated in this time, we understand how fortunate we are at R&R and how lockdown has impacted people around the country. The donations, regardless of value, were all amazing and helped us achieve well beyond our goal. Stay safe in your bubbles, and please call out if you need help.
Women's Refuge Crisisline: 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843
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