On International Women’s Day, Louise Batista handed out more than 200 personal alarms to women and businesses in Bradford, something Denise Gorin, client care specialist for Batista, says was empowering for all who received them.
Batista has been a Bradford resident since 2002. She joined the real estate industry in 2010. Now, she is making it her mission to give back to her community.
“I always say I’m Bradford built,” she says. “I’ve been in the community for 22 years, I run an all-female real estate team here in town, and I want to be involved, support and give back.”
How do these personal alarms work? The small, easy-to-carry devices fit on a key chain, in a purse or in a backpack. These discrete alarms work by simply pulling a pin, making a loud noise, and then flashing lights begin to go off.
The idea to hand out the alarms all started when one of Batista’s four daughters went to university, and Batista bought an alarm to help her feel safer. She says that once she saw the device, she wondered why more people didn’t have them.
She visited various businesses in town, such as Peter Dykie Jewellers, Victoria Bourque Beauty Boutique, and several others. Batista and her team dedicated the entire day to handing out the alarms, and they chose these gifts for a specific reason.
“International Women’s Day usually involves getting a flower. I want something useful and that’s going to make you feel powerful. I want something to empower my daughters,” she says.
“Going out at night, or being in a parking lot – these are concerns that we still have as women. If everybody draws attention to these things, then hopefully one day we won’t have to worry as much.”
Batista says she wants to look after the people in her community. In doing so, her act of appreciation on International Women’s Day was not the first time she and her team had planned something similar.
“We are always doing porch drop-offs and pop-bys,” Batista said. “For Valentine’s Day, we went around and made sure that everybody got cake mixes, and now we’re doing Easter pop-bys.”
She started doing these types of visits more often during the COVID-19 pandemic because there was little for people in the community to do. During that time, she sponsored a Christmas “Snow Much Fun” bag through the Town of Bradford, and she has plans to sponsor this activity annually, along with the annual fall Pumpkin Drop.
For Batista, it is important to give back to the community that built her.
Photos Batista posts about her work in the community can be found on her Instagram, @ListWithLouise.
More about her and her team can be found here.
