Suffolk charity supporting underprivileged women wins award

Mollin Delve says the charity sees how much the people of Suffolk welcome migrants and help vulnerable people

A charity that helps underprivileged women and children said it was "really proud" after it was named Charity of the Year.

Ipswich-based Phoebe aims to help women live healthy and safe lives and provide a safe space to learn new skills.

Its founder Mollin Delve said offering refuge to domestic abuse victims was "something we enjoy doing and something we really feel proud of".

The charity won the award at the Suffolk BME Business Awards.

Ms Delve said: "I think for any sector in the domestic abuse community, it's an exhausting job.

"It can be quite depressing and so you really need people around you, supporting you and that will flow over into the women's lives themselves.

"They feel really pushed away, they're afraid, they're brought over to the UK as migrants and threatened with violence, at times threatened with deportation and they feel like they do not know where to go."

'Embrace people'

The awards, organised by Ipswich-based BSC Multicultural Services, aimed to "celebrate the diversity of businesses across the county and that of the people that own and run them".

Ms Delve said anti-migrant attitudes sometimes covered in the media was not something they saw widely on the ground.

She said: "The real down to earth people of Suffolk and many communities want to embrace people and really want to support every human being and they do that and so that's what we know.

"We're there to be able to partner with local authorities and those in decision-making positions to help sustain people's lives, protect children, women, the vulnerable and the marginalised.

"It's just a fraction [with anti-migrant attitudes].

"Really the truth of the matter is as migrants coming over we feel supported in Suffolk, the people of Suffolk want everybody to feel safe and that they belong in the county."