FTP to host 10th annual luncheon fundraiser in honour of International Women’s Day

Written By MIKE BAKER

While its staff are continuously working towards this one common goal, Family Transition Place is nowhere near putting itself out of business. 

In fact, the Orangeville-based women and family shelter, with ties across Dufferin County and Caledon, is marking its 35th anniversary in the community this year. Over the course of the past three and a half decades, the organization has provided critical services to women, and their children, who have experienced abuse and unhealthy relationships. They have provided refuge and much-needed support and assistance to people during their darkest moments. 

As stated on their website, “Inside FTP's doors, women find a warm and welcoming place where their safety and well-being is the most important thing in the world. Whether they need a safe place to live, or the services of a professional, skilled counsellor to assist them on their journey, FTP is there to help.”

Unfortunately, that help comes at a significant cost. While FTP is partially funded by the provincial government, the organization is tasked with raising in the region of $400,000 each and every year to pay for all it does in our community. 

With International Women's Day (IWD) right around the corner (Sunday, March 8), FTP has spent the past several weeks gearing up for one of its largest annual fundraisers. Now entering its 10th year, the IWD Luncheon has often served as a lighter, more uplifting event for the organization over the past decade. Since 2011, the luncheon has grossed around $420,000 for the local shelter. 

In what is the event's first major milestone, Norah Kennedy, FTP's Executive Director, said she has something special planned this year. The luncheon takes place today (March 5) at the Orangeville Best Western.

“A lot of our events and speaking opportunities are pretty issues-based and focused, and can be very heavy because the work we do every day is heavy,” Ms. Kennedy said. “For IWD, we made a deliberate attempt to be a little more celebratory around the accomplishments women have made, both globally and locally. I've always used the opportunity to talk about how far women have come over the years – from the days when women were basically non-persons to getting the vote, and all the other firsts women have accomplished.”

She added, “While, usually, we will have a guest speaker come in, we've decided to do something a little bit different this year, because we are reaching a couple of different milestones in our community. We have approached a number of women, from our community, who we believe have challenged the status quo during the same time period we've been in existence.”

In total, six local women will be featured at this year's luncheon. Amongst those is Mary Rose, a 23-year veteran of municipal politics. Ms. Rose has the distinction of being the first female mayor in Orangeville's history, serving in the role for two terms in the 1990s. She will be joined by Orangeville Police Service Deputy Chief Leah Gilfoy, firefighter Mandy Gould, who serves as district chief of the Inglewood fire station, corrections officer Preeya Rateja, FTP staffer Jessie Humphries and one-time Olympian and renowned coach Kaarina Dillabough. 

“We have quite a diverse group of women from different ages and backgrounds, and some really interesting stories to share,” Ms. Kennedy said.

The sharing will be done via movie format. In the weeks leading up the luncheon, Ms. Kennedy organized interviews with each of the six women who will be featured at the event to discuss their careers, focusing primarily on the challenges and obstacles they had to overcome in order to be successful in their chosen field. The key points of those meetings have been compiled into a 25-minute film, which will air at the luncheon. 

While Ms. Kennedy is excited for the luncheon, and proud of the legacy FTP has built in the community over the past 35 years, there appeared to be a hint of regret in her voice as she talked about the milestones. A bittersweet feeling, perhaps.

“One of the things that has always troubled me when we hit these milestones, is that it's not really a celebration. Ideally, we would have put ourselves out of business 34 years ago. If we had our way, that would have happened by now. But, the truth is, it hasn't happened and, to be quite honest, I don't see it happening in the near future,” Ms. Kennedy said.

Statistics related to shelter visits, support line calls and counselling sessions have been on an upward trajectory for years. From April 2018 to April 2019, FTP's emergency shelter provided refuge to 73 women and 45 children, a further 11 women and nine children were placed into second-stage housing, while 3,261 calls were made to the organization's 24-hour support line. 

Elsewhere, 343 women received abuse counselling, 149 women and 17 men received sexual abuse counselling and 324 women and one man received transitional support services. 

Another number on the rise, which is proving to be a considerable problem for FTP, is the amount of time women have been spending at the shelter. Ordinarily, Ms. Kennedy says, women would spend between four and six weeks at the emergency facility, before moving on to a more permanent solution. In recent years, that average time spent at the shelter has doubles, with women now spending, on average, between two and three months in temporary housing.

“We're really struggling to find solutions to the housing piece. One of the reasons we're so full in the shelter all the time is because there's nowhere for these women to move out to. The rental market is so out of touch. When you consider someone on Ontario Works, or disability supports have $400 to $500 at most per month that they can spend on housing… What on earth are you going to find in this community for that amount of money – you can't even find a room in a house for that amount. It's an impossible situation,” Ms. Kennedy said. 

She added, “This is supposed to be a transitional place. That's why it's in our name. This is not a permanent solution for anybody. We're in a situation now, unfortunately, where women are moving out and not sure where they're going next. It's proving to be a real challenge.”

One area of success, however, is the recent growth in FTP's Rural Response Program. Thanks to a new five-year $800,000 federal grant, the organization has been able to expand its services at the Mel Lloyd Centre in Shelburne. 

“This is an important program. It focuses on women who can't get to us, either because of isolation or because of their situation, so we commit to going out to them instead,” Ms. Kennedy said. “The program has been really, really popular, especially since we expanded it. We've been able to add staff and grow the location so that we're able to see more people.”

Another key initiative, Norah says, is the Youth Education Program. Currently, FTP reaches around 1,600 youth, from Grades 5 to 12, from schools across Caledon and Dufferin County. The idea behind that particular program is to teach kids what healthy relationships are all about, and to help eliminate violence in our communities. 

When asked where she envisions FTP being perhaps five years in the future, Ms. Kennedy was hesitant to commit to a solid answer, instead indicating that programming and services would, largely, be dictated by the demands of the community.

“FTP was founded by a group of women who recognized there was a need, saw the need and went out and did something about it. They build this organization from the grassroots up. Since that time, we have continued to model that legacy of seeing where the need was and adjusting, growing and modifying things to meet that need, and we're still doing that to this day,” Ms. Kennedy said. “Whenever we see the needs of our community changing, we change to meet those needs.”

For more information about FTP, visit familytransitionplace.ca.