After years of fundraising and an intense awareness campaign, Morinville is getting a safe house for abused women.
At the centre of the campaign is a tragic story of domestic violence. In 2009, Morinville mom Jessica Martel was murdered in front of her three children by her common-law husband. A safe house has been the dream of Martel’s family since her murder and they’ve been on a mission to raise funds and build it. That dream is now one step closer to reality.
READ MORE: Canada’s family violence rates are staggering, says new report
Lynne Rosychuk, Martel’s mom and president of the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation, said her daughter would be proud.
“We’ve worked really hard for the past four years trying to make this reality and it’s just a really great tribute to my daughter,” Rosychuk told Gord Steinke in a sit-down interview Thursday.
“People still remember her. People still remember this story and the fact that they still want to help out and have something like this going on in our community is amazing.
“When we were trying to help Jessica leave, we kept hitting roadblock after a roadblock. In our community there really weren’t any resources for her to connect with, and in the city trying to get into a shelter was a minimum two-month wait. Having this in our community, not just for women, but families that are being affected by domestic violence is huge.”
Watch below: After years of fundraising, the Town of Morinville is one step closer to getting a safehouse for those looking to flee domestic violence. Quinn Ohler reports.
Kris Porlier, director of fund development and public relations with the JMMF said the number of cases of domestic violence is alarming.
“Sixteen thousand women and children were turned away from domestic shelters for women in the last year. Only 32 municipalities are equipped to deal with this or able to offer assistance,” he said.
“With Morinville Sturgeon Valley, it’s one of the highest call volumes for the RCMP detachment, which is very large and and undermanned and overworked and so this is going to be a huge asset for the area.”
The Town of Morinville is getting behind the project. It will give a piece of land to the JMMF for the shelter. The property will also be serviced by the town this spring, a donation estimated to be worth over $100, 000.
“The Town of Morinville took a huge leadership step and donated the land and the servicing for the land. That will enable us to take the next big step in establishing the safe house,” Porlier said.
The Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation is now focusing on fundraising to build the safe house.
Martel’s three children live with their grandmother. James Urbaniak is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He is eligible for parole in 2018.
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