SUBMITTED PHOTO Sarah MacKenzie trekked through the Sahara Desert to raise money for women's shelters and prevention initiatives for violence against women.
A local woman has donated more than $13,000 to the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society after journeying through the Sahara Desert to raise funds.
Sarah MacKenzie presented a $13,372 cheque to women’s shelter executive director Natasha Carvalho on Thursday on behalf of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, the culmination of her “Sarah and the Sahara” project.
“Over five days, trekkers hiked more than 100 km across hard and rocky terrain, climbed sand dunes hundreds of metres high, and withstood hours of walking in blistering heat,” a news release from the foundation says.
“The physical and emotional strain put on the trekkers was immense, but it couldn’t compare to what women and children escaping domestic violence experience – the very women and children who were the driving force behind this adventure.”
For the fundraiser, each trekker pledged to raise at least $5,000 for the foundation, while covering their own travel and trekking expenses.
In total, the trekkers raised $1.14 million for various women’s shelters across the country.
Eighty per cent of these funds will go directly toward these shelters, while the remaining 20 per cent goes toward prevention and education programs intended to “break the cycle of family violence,” as per the news release.
