Through the Pavers Foundation, Graham Paver has donated £10,000 to Survive North Yorkshire a charity based in York City Centre which offers several support services to survivors of sexual violence.
Founded in 1990 and serving survivors of sexual violence in North Yorkshire for the last 35 years, Survive hopes for a world without sexual abuse but until then are driven to provide safe spaces with caring and compassionate services that help survivors heal and rebuild their lives. Survive is the only accredited specialist sexual violence agency in North Yorkshire and East Riding and deliver a number of dedicated services to those in need which include, counselling sessions, trauma therapy and a free helpline which is open to those directly or indirectly affected by sexual violence.
Survive helps around 110 service users each week in the North Yorkshire area and earlier this year, due to a lack of funding and mounting demand for their services the charity had to make the difficult decision to temporarily close their 700 person long waiting list. Since then, Survive have been working to ensure their systems and processes are efficient and effective and have succeeded in gradually reducing the waiting list numbers and waiting time with hopes to reopen the waiting list to more survivors again in November 2025.
The donation from Graham will go directly into supporting the day-to-day costs of the charity allowing the important work and support to continue to help those in need. Mags Godderidge, CEO of Survive, thanked Graham and the Pavers Foundation for the donation adding; ‘We know that our services and interventions work: they are life-changing and for some, life-saving. This £10,000 donation will contribute significantly to our core costs and allow us to continue helping survivors of rape, sexual assault and child sexual abuse heal, rebuild and thrive’.
Graham first became aware of Survive after seeing a TV news segment where CEO Mags was speaking of the difficulties the organisation was facing with the lack of funding and their challenges with the growing waiting list. Graham said: ‘I could see how vital this service would be to someone in need, and the pressure on the charity due to the demand concerned me greatly. I hope this donation will help Survive continue their amazing work’.