While plans for a YWCA women’s emergency shelter are in the works, with a goal of 2020 identified for the project, local musicians are getting an early start on fundraising.
On Friday (Jan. 15), Songs For Shelter will take place at the Canmore Golf and Curling Club, featuring Pat “Sully” Sullivan, Mike Petroff and Gord March.
All proceeds from the event will go to the Y’s Bow Valley Women’s Emergency Shelter.
Organizers have been working with the YWCA, said Petroff, who has co-written and will perform the song “I Wish You Enough” with Julia Lynx at the event.
“It’s a way to raise awareness and give something back,” said Petroff. “It’s kind of an affair of the heart. I was alarmed at the numbers (of domestic and sexual abuse) and compared to other regions, there are fewer facilities here. It’s time for no more silence on the subject.
“We have a wonderful group of people and it’s going to be Gord on guitar, Sully on harmonica and me with guitar. It’ll be a song circle, we’ll each do a set, and we’ll all collaborate a bit, including with Julia.
“When the idea came up to do a show, everybody was all over it. We all love music and we want to apply it for an awareness night. One hundred per cent of the funds raised will go to the Y and we hope we sell out.”
Tickets (150 maximum) are $20 and available in advance in Canmore at March’s Floor Covering (#12, 102 Bow Meadows Crescent), Shoes T’ Boot (105, 713 Main St.) and at the YWCA in Banff (102 Spray Avenue).
Doors open at 6 p.m., with the show at 7 p.m. There will be a cash bar and door prizes.
Lafarge kicked things off with a $2,000 donation and the Canmore Golf and Curling Club donated the venue as a contribution.
Songs for Shelter is a welcome start to fundraising, said Connie MacDonald of the YWCA.
“Right now we don’t have a capital campaign, but we’re wrapping up a needs assessment and we’ll have a report in the new year. We’ve hired an external consultant for the needs assessment and we’ve got a number of ideas from looking at other shelters in communities of similar size around the province.”
The shelter is being proposed for a Canmore location, due to available properties and suitable resources and facilities. “And Canmore as a community will continue to grow,” said MacDonald, “while Banff’s growth is limited.”
Possible locations for a women’s shelter would include acquiring a property and constructing a building, or renovating an existing property, if suitable.
“We want to be open to as many possibilities as possible,” she said. “And we really need facilities for children. And of course, we’re working on this at the same time as we continue the day-to-day projects we support as well.”
