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Shelter Movers arrives in York Region to help women and children flee abuse

February 27, 2020   ·   0 Comments

Women and children fleeing abuse in York Region have a new helping hand with Shelter Movers.

Shelter Movers, a national organization that provides free moving and storage services to women and children fleeing abuse, has helped nearly 1,100 families in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax since its inception in 2016, and, on Monday, formally launched their services in York Region.

Partnered with the York Region Centre for Community Safety (YRCCS), Shelter Movers is the only organization in the country providing free moving and storage services for individuals fleeing abuse. The service is accessed by a referral from an agency or shelter and, once that referral has been made, Shelter Movers connects with the client and the referring agency to plan moving logistics.

They consider the needs of each individual, including storage, pet fostering and translation services and, with the help of community business partners, securing storage units for those leaving violent situations is often provided free of charge.

“At Shelter Movers, we often say violence against women is not a women’s issue; violence against women is, in many ways, a men’s issue,” said Marc Hull-Jacquin, Executive Director of Shelter Movers, speaking to community partners gathered for the York Region launch at Aw, Shucks on Monday afternoon. “This is about men hurting women. Do women hurt men? Yes, they do, and that’s terrible, we support men and have moved men, but we try to call this out for what it is. We have an opportunity to bring together men and women under the same umbrella to help solve this problem.

“In York Region only a few years ago – and these are only the reported cases – 5,300 cases of intimate partner violence [were reported] in York Region, increasing year over year. In Canada last year, there were over 93,000 cases – again, only the reported cases – and Shelter Movers has completed about 1,100 moves. We’re moving about 60 families a month between our four cities and we’re very proud of that number and our staff and volunteers work very hard. Really, it is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more we need to do. If we’re really going to take a bite out of this problem and really address it, we need greater resources and more awareness.  Your being here today is a step in the right direction and I appreciate the time you’re making to be here.”

Speaking on behalf of YRCCS, Executive Director Jaspreet Gill shared an early success story of the partnership between her organization and Shelter Movers.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Shelter Movers to Greater Toronto to this partnership and to York Region to better serve the residents of York Region, those women, and the majority of them are women, but also men are also victims as well,” she said. “We recently had one of our York Region clients referred to Shelter Movers Greater Toronto and this is her testimonial: ‘I am writing this email as a humble note of appreciation for the outstanding volunteer services provided by Shelter Movers. I was facing a long-standing problem and this service took the ability to provide the resolution quickly, which exceeded my expectations. I really commend the prompt service provided by Shelter Movers. I am really pleased with the professional services provided by the team. Keep up the good work!’

“As we know, this service is important. The services provided by YRCCS and partners are important for the clients we serve, but there is no reduction in gender-based violence and violence against women  and we can’t do this alone as individual agencies; it requires all of us coming together as a collective, as an entire sector, in order to create some real change, because the systemic barriers remain. When we can all come together to create that change… this is the first of many steps we will be taking together as a collective.”

For more information on Shelter Movers, visit sheltermovers.com or call 1-855-203-6252. For more on the York Region Centre for Community Safety, visit yrccs.ca.

By Brock Weir



         

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