Today is the launch of our Giving Tuesday campaign!
For this year's Giving Tuesday campaign, we are fundraising to support our SisterSquare program for women and women-identified individuals.
Open in response to restrictions at indoor safe spaces due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SisterSquare offers a heated respite for women in the community to access showers, washrooms and a safe space to gather.
“As violence against women in the Downtown Eastside continues to escalate and safe gathering spaces close or reduce the number of women inside in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, women are left with fewer options for safety. This tent offers women a safe harbour in an increasingly violent storm.”
- Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society
In addition to offering women a safe place to gather, use safely with trained staff and peers on site, access harm reduction supplies, personal hygiene products and grab a snack, women will have access to services including support securing housing and or access to treatment, stopping the violence counselling, one-to-one emotional support, legal advocacy, and a direct line to connect to food hamper deliveries, among other services.
SisterSquare, A Safe Outdoor Space for Women:
"More and more people, particularly women, need assistance as the informal economy dwindles and spaces like libraries and local businesses no longer offer a temporary refuge.
So with shelters turning away more and more women drop-in centres almost completely closed, the community got creative.
SisterSquare ..for all women-identifying people, opened kitty corner to Oppenheimer Park on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Powell Street ..offering a 24-hour-a-day place for women to warm up, have a meal and be connected to health, housing and employment supports."
Yvette Joe. Photo by Joshua Berson, courtesy of The Tyee.
"These women work hard. And they take care of each other ...We asked the universe for this place and the universe gave us this."
- Yvette Joe, SisterSquare peer worker
Every woman has the right to live a life free of violence and we need to ensure there are options available to women that make a different future possible, including access to safe, affordable and adequate housing.
Your donation to us this year lets women know:
They are not alone.
They violence and abuse they experience is never their fault.
Violence against women will not be tolerated.
Today, your generosity can help us provide women with critical services they need, such as hot meals, warm clothes, harm reduction supplies, and access to support services.
What is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday comes on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when the average Canadian spends more than $500 on shopping deals. Why not turn this year's spending into social value for your community?
Join the movement dedicated to giving back and turn your holiday deals into dollars for women and children in our community. Every single cent counts.
For updates on gendered violence, follow Atira on Twitter at @freeofviolence.
Atira Women's Resource Society is dedicated to supporting women and children affected by violence by offering safe, supportive housing and by delivering education and advocacy aimed at ending all forms of gendered violence.
