Agvvik Society plans May 19 fundraising gala in Iqaluit

You can help the Qimaavik women’s shelter in Apex (shown here) May 19, by buying a ticket to its gala evening. (FILE PHOTO)

If you want to help women fleeing domestic violence, come and support the YWCA Agvvik Nunavut’s Ulluriaq Soirée gala May 19 at the Frobisher Inn, where, starting at 7 pm, you’ll support a good cause and find good food, an auction, door prizes and entertainment.

After the success of its Mother’s Day rose fundraising sale, the YWCA has high hopes for the gala evening, Agvvik executive director Suny Jacob said.

“This is our first big fundraising gala,” Jacob said. “We are looking forward to the community to understand the services we are providing. Also, we want to let everyone know that this is a place for women and children… this is a safe place for them to come.”

YWCA Agvvik, which runs the 21-bed Qimaavik women’s shelter, always operates at over-capacity, she said, sometimes housing 100 women and children fleeing from abuse.

The money raised by the May 19 gala will go towards covering programming costs such as job coaching and healing workshops and helping women find treatment and expand their skills, she said.

“We have a very limited amount of money from the Government of Nunavut,” Jacob said.

Agvvik also wants to raise money for longer-term transitional housing — and the money raised at the gala will contribute to this.

“What we are providing here is just a temporary band-aid,” Jacob said, referring to the four- to six-week period when clients stay at the shelter.

Transitional housing helps women move forward with their lives, she said.

That’s because the shelter’s clients don’t get priority in obtaining social housing, even when they leave their homes due to abuse.

And “many of them don’t want to go back to their home community,” she said.

Tickets for the fundraising soirée are $50 and can be purchased from Jessica Bell or bell_jess@hotmail.com or Sheila Levy at levy_sheila@hotmail.com