Purple ribbons tied to safety and support

By Mo Cranker on November 2, 2018.

Jennifer Ottenbreit ties a purple ribbon to a street sign downtown Thursday afternoon. A number of volunteers got together with the Medicine Hat Women's Shelter Society to hang the ribbons and bring awareness to Family Violence Prevention Month.--NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

If you’re walking downtown and see purple ribbons tied to various objects, it’s not random decoration.

The Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society kicked off Family Violence Prevention Month Thursday by tying purple ribbons around the downtown core — each one having contact information for the shelter.

“It’s about bringing awareness,” said shelter executive director Natasha Carvalho. “Purple is the colour of Family Violence Prevention Month and we’re trying to get people talking about it.

“We’ve got a group of volunteers out today to walk around and tie some ribbons to get out in the community.”

Carvalho says the shelter has a number of events planned for the month.

“After today we’re going to be making a presentation to city council,” she said. “We’re also going to be at the Tigers game Saturday and the players are going to be using purple tape on their sticks.

“The library is hosting a couple of movie showings and we’ve got a dance troupe happening at the college — everything is listed on our website.”

Carvalho says Family Violence Prevention Month is relevant to all communities — Medicine Hat included.

“I think it’s really important for people to understand the police force here accepts 1,300 calls every year for domestic violence — that’s a very significant number for a community of our size,” she said. “People may not realize that and it’s a very big issue to us.

“We see a lot of people coming through our doors who have been hurt and the more awareness we raise, the more conversations we have — maybe the cycle can start to look a little different.”

Carvalho says it is important for people to understand that anyone is welcome to call the shelter and ask about its services.

“People need to know that we’re here and that they don’t need to stay in unsafe situations — there’s help out there,” she said.

Carvalho says violence can be mental or physical, and that the shelter offers services for both.

More information can be found at mhwss.ca.

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