Courtesy: Peace Regional Women’s Shelter
The Peace River Women’s Shelter is nearing completion after the extensive work following the discovery of black mold on November 28, 2023 when we began a small project involving windows and siding. We expect to be fully operational as of April 2, 2024.
During the past four months, we offered reduced services to women and children fleeing abuse. We did off site support services, arranged for some families who were not in immediate danger to stay in local hotels, moved a few families who were ready for Second Stage into accommodations there, answered the 24-hour crisis line and directed women to other emergency shelters. Essentially, we provided all the services we could short of having an emergency shelter available for women to stay in.
Upon discovering the black mold, we contacted the Province of Alberta, the local municipalities and the local towns. All levels of government assistance were supportive with cash donations. We also contacted a variety of local businesses and gratefully received general public donations.
The Province of Alberta announced on February 26, 2004 that they would provide $400 000. Northern Sunrise County donated $20 000 plus offered a two-year interest free loan of $130 000. The County of Northern Lights donated $20 000. The MD of Peace donated $10 000 now and $10 000 in the following year. The Town of Peace River donated $20 000. The Towns of Grimshaw and Manning donated $2 500 each. This support covers all the costs of remediating the black mold and the rebuilding of the infrastructure destroyed during the remediation. We attended to issues that contributed to the problem in the first place by installing new furnaces and fans to ensure air is properly moved throughout the building.
All work was done by local contractors who understood the emergent need to provide a safe place to women fleeing domestic violence. They ensured the work was done in a timely way without compromising excellent workmanship. We do not want to have this problem in the future!
