Lucy's Project recognises that when there is nowhere safe to take their companion animal when fleeing domestic violence, many victims are unwilling to leave their house, or return to dangerous homes to protect their animal. Animals are often threatened or abused as a way of controlling a human victim.We recognise the often lifelong trauma of being forced to abandon an animal when there is nowhere safe to go together. When a companion animal (a pet) has been a persons only comfort, witness and strength, the challenge of abandoning an animal is often too great, leading to many victims and survivors choosing to sleep rough or stay in the cycle of violence. Lucy's Project raises awareness of the need to protect the whole family from domestic violence, paws and all. We also support and work collaboratively with many domestic violence organisations wishing to co-house animals and humans together, crisis foster care, transitional homes, long term accomodation, shelters, police and government agencies, vets, and many others. We all accept that animals are part of the family- now it's time to ask what that means when the family find themselves in crisis. At it's heart, Lucy's Project protects people by recognising that animals can be a vital part of the family and as long as we fail to provide for them, human lives are at risk too. Lucy's Project is run by volunteers and funded by donations. There are no salaries and we keep admin costs as low as possible so that money gets where it is needed most. We do a lot with a little. In the four years since our inception, we have run 2 conferences, one with international speakers, have members in every state of the country, been commended in State and Federal Parliament, won the Citizen of the Year award from Lismore City Council, endorsed by Rosie Batty, been featured on ABC (TV and Radio), NBN, Channel 7 and in newspapers and radio. We aren't a well known cause and in this day and age when people want to know that their donated money is going to a good cause, not just to admin, small grassroots organisations like ours can offer so much and affect real change. We need money to keep going, especially with the very ambitious projects we have in 2018/19 to save and improve even more lives.