Bright sunny skies greeted participants in the 13th annual fundraising event for the Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie held at Heritage Park on Saturday.
Past years had seen up to 70 people taking part in the event, which is aimed at eliminating domestic violence, but this year organizers said more than 100 took part in the walk along the city's lakeshore.
The fundraising goal was $50,000. Previous efforts have not been able to get to that milestone, but as of the event's start time, organizers said they believed they had reached that goal for the first time.
Organizer Teresa MacLennan told BarrieToday that chasing that fundraising goal is always important, but that “it’s also about awareness."
"We want men to use their voice to say that they do not condone any kind of violence, that they are going to try and use their voice to end violence against women," she said. "That is the significance of putting on the shoes and walking a mile, because no one knows what it is like to be a woman in violence and the difficult journey to leave that abusive relationship."
The money that come in from the walk go directly into the support and services for women and children at the local shelter.
“Women who come to our door come with nothing. They may come with a garbage bag, or they may not. We must provide everything for them. We give them gift cards to purchase clothing. We give then every meal. Every school snack," MacLennan said. "All of the needs for their school backpacks. Transportation to appointments and court appointments. We provide all of that for them.
"Our building is very large and it is very costly to maintain our building and to keep the lights on. It’s always full. It’s a struggle for us to meet the need financially, but we will always try to create a home atmosphere for our families, and we will help them get on their feet and we are with them on that journey to healing”," she added.
“When men, women and kids come out and they put on high heels and they walk a mile in her shoes, they are walking with and for survivors of domestic violence."
It was a cross-section of society taking part in Saturday's walk, with Barrie Colts hockey players alongside firefighters and police officers, politicians, small children and families with their dogs joining in as well.
Maria and her two children, Alex and Grace, who were walking in the event, had a personal connection to the event.
“We were in the shelter," she said. "I am doing this for my kids and I just wanted to give back to the shelter and I wanted to do something fun and memorable.”
Barrie Fire Capt. Paul Cox, a Barrie firefighter out of Station Five, took part in the walk for the first time and felt that it was an important thing to do. “It’s an awareness. We take it for granted and are pretty comfortable in our little bubbles and don’t look beyond that and into the areas that we could as a community, so I think this is an opportunity to do that”, he said.
