Even though the pandemic prevented the Sexual Assault Survivors Center from holding an event on International Women’s Day, the Sarnia-Lambton agency will celebrate that day’s spirit as it holds the inaugural Women’s Day Retreat in Bright’s Grove on May 28.
The Sexual Assault Survivors Center will be inviting guests for a fundraiser luncheon in the arena space at The Fox and Hound Canine Retreat from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm
The purpose is to bring women together to celebrate their successes while also providing new and different perspectives, embodying this year’s International Women’s Day theme of #BreakTheBias.
Featuring a pair of prominent keynote speakers – Sarnia’s own filmmaker/actress/mental health advocate Shreya Patel and Shayla Stonechild, a Metis-Cree influencer, yoga instructor and founder of the Matriarch Movement (www.matriarchmovement.ca) from Muscowpetung First Nation – attendees will get the chance to hear about two extraordinary life stories, enjoy a light, spring-inspired meal (vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free), all while contributing to programming at the Sexual Assault Survivors Centre, said executive director Chantel Butterfield.
“International Women’s Day has always been an event that we have tried to center around sharing space with friends and community, focusing on enjoying time together without focusing on the heaviness of the work we do,” Butterfield said. “So we’re really looking to earmark an annual event where people can go to recharge and refresh, a place where people can share space with others who hold the same values as the center does.”
Co-hosted by Danielle Catton and Marika Groendyk – Catton is the founder of Sarnia Speaks and Danielle is Anxious while Grodendyk is a SASCSL board member as well as a trauma-informed communications expert and founder of Bluepoint Public Relations – the retreat will also feature prizes , gifts, awards as well as self-care and is open to all women interested in supporting the center and its mandate.
Tickets are $125 and available at www.eventbrite.ca under Women’s Day Retreat 2022.
“We really want to honor the centre’s commitment to diverse, inclusive feminist practice,” Butterfield said. “We wanted this event to focus on speakers who speak to more than just one type of audience. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #BreakTheBias so we wanted to hold an event that honored our commitment to enhancing Indigenous and Asian voices, and those are such prominent communities in Sarnia-Lambton.
“So we’re thrilled to have Shayla and Shreya there to share some inspirational stories with us because they’ve both had quite the journeys,” she added. “It will be really exciting to hear how they got to where they are, what their plans are for the future and how they continue to amplify the voices that they amplify and how we can help.”
Money raised from the event will be used to enhance services on offer at the SASCSL, Butterfield said.
“All the money goes right back into the center,” she said. “We have funding commitments from our ministry funders, but unfortunately none of those commitments were increased…so it gets difficult when you look at running a non-profit organization when you don’t have that cost-of-living increase to figure out how you’re going to enhance your services while still offering the existing services. So this fundraiser will help us offset some of those growing costs that ministry funding isn’t able to cover.”
For sponsorship opportunities or for more information, contact the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Center at [email protected].