Welcome Centre Shelter Launches First Ever Online And Month-Long Fundraising And Awareness Campaign
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The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women & Families has launched its first-ever online and month-long fundraising and awareness campaign.
The Centre is inviting area businesses and individuals to invest in women-held positions in the agency, specifically their harm reduction and peer support programs, both of which support hundreds of women annually.
Running through the remainder of March, the online campaign, targeting Facebook and Instagram, will spend the month showcasing the staff, clients, and work of the Centre’s harm reduction and peer engagement programs, aiming to reach a goal of $25,000 over the month.
For the next three weeks, the agency will be spotlighting key staff, educating on harm reduction and peer support, and prompting the community to move beyond awareness and into action. The campaign is broad, looking to individuals, while also calling on area corporations and businesses to take a public stand and show support for the positive impacts of these programs on many of our vulnerable community members.
Harm reduction and peer engagement at the Centre have yielded remarkable results. Provided by three staff, two full-time and one part-time, the agency offers on-site naloxone and anti-stigma training for clients and staff, speaks at provincial and national roundtables supporting other sister shelters in removing barriers to shelter access, and has thousands of in-the-moment support provided annually to hundreds of women accessing shelter services.
“As our first campaign for harm reduction and peer support, both of which we know are often misunderstood, we want to focus heavily on educating the community on the huge positive impacts we see every day as a result of investing in these programs and the woman who provide them and use them,” says Lady Laforet, Executive Director of the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families- “that said, in a community that is facing an ongoing housing and drug crisis that we know disproportionately impacts women and caregivers, peer support and harm reduction aren’t a luxury for us- they’re a necessity, so we’ll keep knocking on doors until it’s covered.”
 The campaign relies heavily on community spread and support, and all are encouraged to share information and posts from the agency’s social media accounts during the month to amplify the agency’s needs and programs. Donations can be in a variety of formats: on social media via new “Donate Now” post buttons, electronically via the agency website, e-transfer to [email protected], cheques made out to Welcome Centre Shelter for Women, or cash donations at the Centre (500 Tuscarora).
