EDMONTON – A women’s shelter dedicated to helping women and children escape violence and abuse will reopen after being closed for a year.
Carol’s House is set to open Monday after the provincial government, the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Women’s Shelter and Homeward Trust Edmonton worked together to fund the project.
“Homeward Trust is dedicated to reducing the number of homeless and they considered us to be a viable project for helping towards that end, and certainly there’s a lot of connection between homelessness, poverty and domestic violence,” said Tess Gordey, executive director of the Edmonton Women’s Shelter.
Watch Video: Women’s shelter prepares to close doors
“As Albertans we should not allow more victimizations to occur,” said Naresh Bhardwaj, associate minister for Persons with Disabilities.
“These women and children are inspirational and they are survivors.
The shelter – previously known as WIN House III – closed in October 2013 due to lack of funding.
Read More: Edmonton women’s shelter turns down City money in hopes of securing long-term funding
The facility is a 10-bed interim supportive housing project for immigrant, refugee and human-trafficked women and children fleeing violence.
“The special needs as you can imagine are just being unfamiliar with the territory, being unfamiliar with the legislation, not knowing who to turn to for help, not having a social support network,” explained Gordey.
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Homeward Trust approved up to $393,215 in funds – through the province – to go towards the project, and the Edmonton Women’s Shelter secured $533,620 from the Katz family, the government’s Innovative Child Care program, and the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
“It’s going to be around the $500,000 mark that we’re going to require to keep operations going year-to-year,” said Gordey.
Carol’s House will offer a range of services, supports and referrals that best support a client’s goals.
It will reopen Monday, Nov. 17.
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