MHWSS staff and Medicine Hat residents walk downtown to spread awareness of Family Violence Prevention Month.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Monday saw downtown painted purple in honour of the start of Family Violence Prevention Month.
After a mayoral proclamation Monday morning, Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society executive director Natasha Carvalho addressed gathered participants, including several members of the new council.
She spoke about the unfortunate necessity of the recent expansion of the Phoenix Safe House, stating that requiring more space is not something anyone wants in shelter services.
“Even today, there’s 22 kids in the shelter,” said Carvalho. “Sometimes people don’t realize that we actually fill up the shelter. We’re not going anywhere. I haven’t talked myself out of the job yet and you can see all our fantastic staff who are here today who work hard to make sure that families who come to our shelters are served with dignity and respect.”
MHWSS called on the community to continue to spread awareness of family violence and the resources available for those in need of support this month. The awareness campaign began with the annual walk, tying purple ribbons to various fixtures downtown to grant visibility to the issue and honour those who have been lost to family violence.
“Have those conversations with people and let them know why it’s important to bring awareness to this issue, because that’s the only way we’re going to get our numbers down, is by talking about it and making sure that people are not alone when they need someone,” said Carvalho.
