Outfitting our New Shelter

The Cause

When women and children fleeing domestic violence come into our care, they find not just a temporary place to stay but a safe haven they can call home for up to 21 days. Our shelter provides more than just a roof over their heads—it offers a refuge during a critical and often traumatic period in their lives. To enhance the comfort and support CAWES provides, we are seeking $20,000 in financial assistance from the Field Law Community Fund. This funding will be dedicated to outfitting our new shelter, ensuring that our residents have a nurturing environment as they begin their journey to healing and rebuilding their lives.

We are thrilled to receive $29.87 million from CMHC’s National Co-Investment Fund for the design and construction of our new home. After years of operating beyond our limits, CAWES is embarking on a transformative journey to address its capacity challenges by building a new, purpose-built facility in Central Alberta. Our current shelter often has to turn people away due to overwhelming demand and limited space. In the 2023-24 fiscal year alone, 712 women and 582 children were turned away due to capacity issues.

As Central Alberta’s population grows, the need for additional space becomes even more urgent. The new facility will replace our outdated 1980s building and will include 50 emergency shelter beds and 40 longer-term transitional housing units, tripling our current capacity. This expansion is a vital step towards supporting the thousands of women and children fleeing domestic violence in our community.

Phase 1, which will open in fall 2024, will offer 50 emergency shelter beds and 17 second stage units. Phase 2, scheduled for completion in 2025, will add 23 more transitional housing units. Your support is crucial in helping us create a safe haven where survivors can begin to heal, rebuild their lives, and envision a brighter future free from violence.

By tripling our capacity, the cost for daily operations for our shelter will increase significantly. Any financial support towards outfitting our shelter will allow us to focus our funds on providing programs and services to those in our care.

Who Will it Benefit?

Thousands of women and children will benefit from this project. Alberta grapples with one of the nation’s highest rates of domestic violence. In November 2023, Alberta’s domestic violence shelters collectively reported the highest volume of calls for assistance in a decade, marking yet another year-over-year increase. CAWES serves a vast catchment area with a burgeoning population exceeding 350,000. Annually, CAWES aids nearly 3,000 individuals, with thousands more seeking refuge from domestic violence. However, due to physical and professional capacity constraints within the current facility, many are turned away.

In 2023-24, 49% of children and 40% women seeking a room in our shelter were turned away due to capacity issues.