With Woman Abuse Prevention Month approaching in November, YWCA Sudbury is gearing up for its Wrapped in Courage campaign.
Starting on Nov. 25, The National Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Wrapped in Courage campaign encourages allies to purchase a purple scarf, which symbolizes the courage it takes a woman to leave her abuser.
It runs until Dec. 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action Against Women, which commemorates the 1989 murders of 14 women at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal, who were killed because of their gender.
“We will be selling purple scarves this year and each scarf is different - each is handmade and all funds raised support the [YWCA] shelter,” explained YWCA Executive Director Marlene Gorman.
Violence continues to be the greatest inequality rights issue for women and girls, which is why it is so important to have the support of the entire community to end violence against women.
It is also what makes organizations like YWCA Sudbury so important in our community. Not only does YWCA operate Genevra House Shelter, an emergency, 32-bed house for women and children escaping domestic abuse, but it also provides support and referrals for those who need assistance with food access, employment, housing and legal matters.
YWCA’s Building Opportunities for Women 12-week program provides training in life skills, self-esteem, education on violence against women, allyship, local resources, finances and budgeting. It also provides a safe space and an opportunity for women to get together and talk about their challenges and goals.
Another initiative that aims to empower women escaping violence is the Adopt-A-Family Christmas program. “We match every woman in need who has been through our shelter in the past year with a donor. We provide the donor with a wishlist and they fill it,” said Gorman of the program. “Our community is super generous and we usually manage to get the women everything they need on their list.”
YWCA is also dedicated to doing advocacy, awareness and education training to prevent the toxic behaviour that can lead to violence relationships.
“We hold conferences for girls and boys, geared toward grade seven and eight students, to help them think critically about the messages they are bombarded with when it comes to healthy relationships, media and body image and gender roles,” Gorman said. “We used to just do the conference for girls but we realized we need to work with boys, too. So we put a team of community partners together and put together a conference for boys.”
Gorman said the organization is now rethinking the conference format to be more inclusive of people who don’t identify as a male or female.
YWCA could use your help to continue to provide the services that help women and their families reach their full potential.
“One of our most recent challenges, aside from lack of affordable housing, is staffing,” said Gorman. “Employers are having a difficult time recruiting and retaining staff and for shelters that operate 24/7, this is a huge challenge.”
In addition to staffing, Gorman also expressed that the shelter is always in need of certain supplies, such as personal hygiene items, pyjamas, socks, underwear and laundry detergent.
In addition to making a donation or shopping at Operation Grow, you can also help make a difference by applying for the vacant board member position at the shelter.
To make a donation, click here.
To learn more about employment and board opportunities at YWCA Sudbury, click here.
To learn more about services provided by this organization, click here.