This Christmas we had a wonderful time with the staff at MERA Group. They came by to help us decorate our building so the families at SOFIA house could enjoy their home with a festive feel. As part of their volunteer day, the MERA staff went out to Sherwood Co-op and did some much needed grocery shopping for our families. Sherwood Co-op had donated $3500 to SOFIA house and the MERA Group helped make sure that the families had everything they needed buy doing the shopping for them on a cold winter day. Thanks to everyone at Sherwood Co-op and MERA Group. Also Stephens Backpack Society for letting us be a part of the wonderful organization and all the backpacks we received. So On Behalf of all of us at SOFIA House we would like to thank Everyone who made such generous donations during this Holiday Season.
Source: Leader Post
REGINA — Lives have been changed … and saved.
For 25 years, SOFIA House has been providing second-stage housing, counselling, education and facilitation services for women and children victims of domestic violence and abuse.
To celebrate a quarter-century of the shelter supporting families that are rebuilding a home of their own, a gala fundraiser will be held Oct. 25 at the Conexus Arts Centre. Internationally renowned designer Hilary Farr, of W Network’s hit design show Love It or List It, will be on hand to provide home design insights and answer home design questions.
“Because we are in the temporary housing business, we are always trying to help people create a warm, inviting environment.” explained SOFIA House executive director Sarah Valli.
The fundraiser is an opportunity “to show how you can transform homes while you transform lives,” she said.
SOFIA House is located in “a family-friendly, nice neighbourhood.”
“You would never know it’s a shelter if you walked by,” insisted Valli.
Demand has remained high.
“In the last five years that I have been there, the occupancy has been 93 to 97 per cent,” she said.
What has changed is the length of stay. Families are staying longer because it has become more and more challenging to find safe, affordable housing, Valli said, adding there are long wait lists for subsidized housing.
The upside to the longer stays, she pointed out, is that families are benefiting from the stability.
SOFIA House has 10 apartments: two three-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedroom apartments. There’s also a communal playroom, office and counselling space.
The shelter, which was started by Sister Yvonne Toucanne, was originally housed in a four-apartment duplex that could accommodate three families, as well as the nun supporting them.
The programs and services provided by a second-stage shelter differ from those at a crisis shelter. After leaving an abusive home, women and children normally go to a crisis shelter, where they receive shelter, counselling and have their basic requirements met for a period of weeks.
A second-stage shelter like SOFIA House provides safe, affordable housing in self-contained apartments, so families can experience independent living in a safe and supportive environment. Ongoing counselling is provided, and families are given time to deal with legal issues before moving into the community. While there, some women deal with addictions, while others continue their education or enter job-training programs. The length of stay ranges from several months to a year.
“I think that shelters have a real valuable place in helping people who are involved in domestic violence situations,” Valli said. “People need to have a safe place to go to that is confidential and supported so that people can feel safe during the night and during the day, and kids can go to school.”
“My wish is that there will be a time where the shelter will be a pivotal part of the community, where everyone will know that that is the safe place to be,” she said. “And that it will be celebrated.”
Valli praised the women who seek refuge at a shelter “because they are the ones that don’t want to live a violent life.”
“The women that take their children away from that violent situation are heroes in my eyes,” she said. “And they need to be able to be celebrated and supported by our community.”
“These women need to be able to walk out of that shelter with their heads high and be celebrated and cheered for their courage,” Valli said. “Because it takes so much bravery to leave everything that you have and start all over again with nothing.
Tickets for the SOFIA House 25th anniversary gala and fundraiser are $125, available from the Conexus Arts Centre box office.
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Source: Sasktel
You have had your trusty cell phone for a few years now. You have shared many a fond memory and it has been a big part of your life. But the time has come to move on, to upgrade, leaving your old cell phone buried somewhere in your storage room, or even worse, in the local landfill.
It doesn’t have to end this way!
Thankfully, SaskTel’s Phones for a Fresh Start program means there could be some good use left in your phone after all.
“The Phones for a Fresh Start program is a good way for people to dispose of phones they no longer need in an environmentally friendly way, and by doing so, giving something back to the community by supporting women’s shelters across the province,” said Deb Ottenbreit, Public Affairs Assistant (Community Relations). Through the program, SaskTel collects used cell phones from customers across the province at collection bins set up in all SaskTel Stores as well as participating dealers.
Once collected, the devices are recycled into parts to make other products. Any money made from having the phones recycled is used to purchase pre-paid calling cards that are distributed along with the phones given to the women’s shelters.
As part of the program, SaskTel, with the help of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan (PATHS), provides women’s shelters across the province with usable cell phones that have been bought back from customers, along with phone stock that has become obsolete.
These phones provide an essential communications tool for women in abusive situations, allowing women in the shelters to stay connected to their families and to be able to call for help if it is required.
The program has been very successful to this point.
“From the program’s inception in 2009 to the end of 2011, approximately 30,000 cell phones have been recycled,” Deb said. “We are also excited to have 66 dealers participating, and 19 shelters receiving the recycled cell phones and pre-paid cards.”
So if you have a cell phone or two at home that you no longer use, why not consider contributing it to the Phones for a Fresh Start program? It might help to clear out any clutter you may have at your place, and at the same time, you will be helping out the environment and your community!
We get asked all the time as to why women return to their abusive partner. We hope this video helps to explain the causes and how you can help.
Mayor Fougere welcomes your attendance at the 2013 Mayor’s Housing Summit. The Summit theme ‘Housing in a Growing Economy’ will focus on the following areas:
The Summit will feature speakers offering expert knowledge, experience, innovative ideas and fact-based analysis on a variety of housing topics.
The Summit brings together senior levels of government, private industry, and the non-profit sector to provide input, make recommendations and resolve practical issues with innovative initiatives and global best practices.
For more information please email MayorsHousingSummit@regina.ca.
To ensure there is no barrier to participation, for all registered, non-profits, registration fees are free. Please contact MayorsHousingSummit@regina.ca for registration information.
Welcome to the SOFIA House website.
Second stage housing provides safe living arrangements for women, and their children, leaving violent relationships. We serve women who have left their abusive homes and do not have any alternative than to seek emergency shelters. Through our programming and safe environment, SOFIA House provides women with the resources they need to build new lives for themselves, not just escape their old one. Many families stay between nine and eighteen months.