By Ethan Benedicto
An entire theatre was filled to the brim on Tuesday 20 August as local residents gathered to raise funds in support of mothers and children suffering domestic violence within the City of Casey.
A total of 167 people poured into Cinema 5 of Village Cinemas at Fountain Gate Shopping Centre to watch the new adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us; raising a total of $5600 for the Casey North Community Support and Information Service.
Abbey Madden, alongside friend Kiam Couchman organised the fundraiser in light of recent statistics seeing Casey with a 5.3 per cent incident rate per 100,00 residents in 2022-23.
Due to the novel and movie’s context, touching on domestic violence and the journey of the main character, Lily Bloom, on resilience, empowerment and breaking free from toxic patterns, both Abbey and Kiam decided on a whim to host a fundraiser.
“I said that if we’re going to do this and we’re getting a few of us, let’s try to raise some money,” Abbey said.
“That’s how it sort of started and then I did a little Instagram post saying that if we were to do this, would anyone like to come along; we had enough interest to then say, we’ll book a movie and I’m sure we can get at least half of it filled.”
Charging $45 per ticket, the majority of the pricing went into donations, as well as a raffle draw which received over $3000 in donations, not just from audiences but from local businesses in Berwick such as Bodega on High, Berwick Pharmacy, Thirty Eight O Six Brewing, council candidate Mush Rahaman and Berwick MP Brad Battin.
For Abbey and Kiam, the importance lies in advocating and reminding the public of the commonality of domestic violence, especially in a municipality as large as Casey.
“There were so many people at the fundraiser who didn’t know our statistics,” Abbey said.
Helen, from the CNCISS, was more than grateful for Abbey and Kiam’s efforts, but also for the public’s contributions to the organisation’s costs; and although Helen said they do not necessarily specialise on family experts, they tend to cater to those kinds of topics.
“We’re a generalist support service, it just so happens that family violence is so rife in Casey, unfortunately, and it means quite a high proportion of people who come here are because they’re either escaping or living with – or a victim-survivor of family violence,” Helen said.
While the issue is well-documented, not just in Casey but around the country, Helen is adamant that the topic is visited often, and that the general public is reminded that the problem is very much present, and could be happening anywhere.
“I think there’s a belief out there in the general community, not necessarily Narre Warren, but that the problems exist [elsewhere] and not here in the east or southeast, in the leafy greens.
“That’s simply not true, and it’s resulted in almost negligence in big services and big organisations and even the government,” Helen said.
Hence, the reason why Helen holds both Abbey’s and Kiam’s efforts in such high regard is that they are part of the regular community who are aware and have decided to make a difference with their actions.
To Abbey, having the conversation, no matter how many times is crucial, and sometimes it can be delivered through a joint effort to view media like It Ends With Us and let others know of the dangers and undertones of domestic violence.
“It’s incredibly important because each and every context you have this discussion it breaches a different audience – we had nine men attend this screening and male businesses supported the fundraiser, it touches everyone differently.
“[The movie] was for females in the area, it was a lot of young girls and it can make them better aware of red flags; teaching them to be aware of these behaviours early.
“It also taught women who are in the community and who will come across people – parents from school or people at work – that we have this support in our area,” Abbey said.
For Abbey, Kiam and Helen, continuous conversations around these topics, no matter how difficult, are important, to have that advocacy and exposure on an issue that happens behind closed doors.
