About 100 people, organizers say, walked behind a bagpiper through Lambton Mall Saturday in the eighth annual Walk a Mile fundraiser, bringing attention to the work Sarnia-Lambton’s Women’s Interval Home does helping women and children fleeing domestic violence.
The event that last year raised $18,000 for the agency’s emergency shelter and programs was targeting $10,000 this year, said Josephine Ethier, fundraising and marketing coordinator with the home.
“And I think we’ve definitely hit $20,000,” she said Saturday.
Posters throughout the mall with the pictures and stories of survivors were put up as part of this year’s campaign and are staying up for the next six weeks as a reminder survivors are people in the community, she and Dorian Noble, vice-chair of the home’s board of directors, said.
“These people that need our services are standing right beside you,” Ethier said. “They’re regular people.”
Sponsored footprints leading to each poster also encourage donations, and various stores in the mall are giving people the option to donate while checking out throughout the campaign, ending the week of Jan. 1, Noble said.
“So this isn’t something that ends today,” she said.
The Women’s Interval Home is more than just a shelter and has plans to expand into more educational and preventative programs, she and Ethier said.
“We’re about making sure that this cycle doesn’t begin, rather than having to help people on the backside of it,” Noble said.
Sponsors throughout the mall also helped with the event, she said.
“We really need these funds,” she said. “We’re only funded government to a certain amount.”
She also talked about the need for more affordable and transitional housing in the community and said no one should be ashamed if they need the agency’s services.
“We’re here to help you,” she said.
The non-profit charitable organization was established in 1977 to provide emergency shelter and counseling services for abused women and their children in the Sarnia area.
Its 10-room home can shelter up to 17 people, including children.
More details are available at womensintervalhome.com, and a 24-hour crisis line is 1-800-265-1412.
-with files from Paul Morden