With no government funding available, Joie's Phoenix House, a second stage program of the Margaret Savage Crisis Centre, relies on grants to keep operating.
With no government funding available, Joie's Phoenix House, a second stage program of the Margaret Savage Crisis Centre, relies on grants to keep operating.
"Grants and community support is vital for the success of our operations," said Serina Parsons, Resource Development Coordinator with the crisis centre.
With that in mind Joie's Phoenix house has entered Cargill's Together We Thrive contest, with the hope of collecting a $25,000 grant.
The online contest, which in running from April 15 to June 30, is offering $150,000 to six deserving communities
Entrants to the contest must fit into one of the three categories: food security and nutrition, education and environmental stewardship.
Joie's Phoenix House has entered under the food security and nutrition category, hoping they can land some funds to help support their clients.
The second-stage housing program held its official grand opening in June of 2014. It provides a safe, long-term supportive environment for women and their children who have experienced family violence.
The house consists of six self-contained, fully furnished bedroom suites, which mothers and their children can move into while they get back on their feet.
"It is not just a place to stay. It is a program and the clients need to be dedicated and ready to change their current situation," said Parsons.
One aspect of the program offers the residents of the house classes and other resources, which will give them the skills to help remove themselves from the violent situation and start fresh.
If the program was successful in its bid to win $25,000, Parsons says the money would go to offering more programs for their clients.
"We would bring in people for cooking classes, nutrition classes, budgeting and grocery shopping classes," said Parsons. "We would also get a plot of land at the Cold Lake community garden so (the clients) would be able to grow some vegetables."
The contest is run online, with the six entrants with the most votes walking away with $25,000 grants.
People are allowed to vote once a day on the Together We Thrive website up until June 30,2015.
"What we need is we need the community to vote," said Parsons." I can't stress enough how much the support of the community support would mean to our success. This $25,000 would go a long way for our programs at Joie's Phoenix House."
