Every year at The Vale Festival, the organisers select charities to support with 100% of the proceeds from the year’s ticket sales, having donated over £150,000 in years gone by. Since 2004 ValeFest, as Europe’s largest student-run charity music festival, has championed a number of worthy causes, last year being The Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Against Malaria Foundation. This year the ValeFest Committee have chosen to support two different charities, the first being a local organisation – RSVP West Midlands.
RSVP, the Rape and Sexual Violence Project, aims to support the victims of any kind of sexual violence or abuse, regardless of gender, age or sexuality. They state that their primary focus is to offer the tools to overcome the effects of sexual abuse, while also helping victims move forwards, and encourage meaningful changes to allow people to have a bright, confident future.
If you’re an adult who has suffered any kind of sexual violence, then RSVP have dedicated personnel who will listen to you, and can advise you as to your next steps – such as emotional help, arranging hospital appointments, and advising you as to whether or not to contact the police. For more detailed information on these services offered to adults by RSVP then click here.
The LGBT community is also supported by RSVP West Midlands, with specialist help on offer for victims of rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse of any kind. As with their adult advocacy, they offer similar services – counselling, practical support, and informing you of your legal options, if necessary. If you’re a member of the LGBT community and would like to see a fuller explanation of the support offered by RSVP then click here.
In addition to specific advocacy services RSVP offer a number of other services. They run monthly coffee mornings, which they say will provide an opportunity to learn some useful coping strategies, explore issues pertaining to sexual violence victims, such as depression, difficulty sleeping and comfort eating, as well as being an opportunity to make friends in a safe environment. They meet once a month on a Thursday morning, and they suggest you get in contact with them if you would like to come along. RSVP also offer a helpline, where you can talk to trained volunteers who will not judge you or give advice, but simply help you with any decision you make. Their helpline telephone number is listed below. For women over the age of 18, RSVP run ‘Cope and Recover’ Groups, a ten-week programme, aimed at allowing women to meet and share with others in a safe environment.
RSVP is a great local charity, championing an incredibly worthy cause and helping people in our community in difficult times; it is a great choice by ValeFest to support them, and raise the profile of an immensely worthy charity within the University of Birmingham student community.
Contact information for RSVP West Midlands:
· Helpline Support Phone Number: 0121 643 4136
· ‘Get In Touch’ Phone Number: 0121 643 0301
· General Enquiries Email: info@rsvporg.co.uk
· Adult and Child Advocacy Email: ISVA@rsvporg.co.uk
· Website: http://www.rsvporg.co.uk/
· Donate to RSVP West Midlands here.
· A leaflet with a list of their services can be found here.
TICKET LINKS:
RA tickets and General Release are now on sale!!! Follow this link to buy them:
HTTPS://WWW.GUILDOFSTUDENTS.COM/EVENTS/7491/2260/
Stay tuned with any ValeFest 2017 Updates via their FACEBOOK PAGE.
For our articles on their recent launch events at the end of last term, click here for part one at the Bristol Pear and here for part two at the Duck and Scholar. More articles on the build-up to ValeFest 2017 will be up soon so keep an eye on burnfm.com and Burn FM on Facebook for those as they come out!
