Budget Blinds delivers warm clothing to Medicine Hat Women's Shelter (photo courtesy Colton Mckee)

By Chantal Wagner

Spread the Warmth

Women’s Shelter looks back on 2020, accepts winter clothing donation

Dec 22, 2020 | 2:09 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – With up to 1,300 people using the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter yearly for support and outreach programs, executive director Natasha Carvalho says there was extra stress for their families over the last twelve months.

Carvalho says the shelter was very quiet at the start of the pandemic and they were quite worried.

She says a lot of the COVID-19 information from AHS was about staying home and staying safe, but it was impacting people as they were staying in unsafe situations and were not able to leave.

“We heard from a lot of families and a lot of women that they were trapped in unsafe situations with their abuser who maybe had been laid off from work and the kids were at home too so their normal reasons for being able to leave were not there anymore,” Carvalho said. “And so we were worried about our families and made sure that we contacted them and tried to keep in touch with them via phone or text or whatever they could throughout the pandemic and made sure they were safe.”

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She reminds people to not stay in an unsafe situation if you are in one and says even during this pandemic their doors are open for help.

“When phase one opened up on May 15 we saw a surge and all our doors just flooded with people so it was obvious that there were people who were in need,” she said.

On Monday, the women’s shelter accepted a donation of brand-new winter coats from Budget Blinds. This was the second year for their Spread the Warmth campaign.

Budget Blinds partner with Medicine Hat & the Foothills Dawn Cameron says they collected 275 pieces of warm winter clothing, everything from ski-jackets, boots, and mitts.

A $985 cheque was also donated to the Women’s Shelter.

“We just wanted to give back to the kids and it’s an organization that sometimes they come without the necessities. And nobody should be not outside enjoying the great community that we have,” Cameron told Chat News.

Carvalho says a lot of their families leave in a hurry and they don’t grab everything they need, so the coats are an important donation. The gear will be well used and shared among the two shelters and outreach programs throughout the year.

“Winter coats are always something that’s hard for our families to be able to afford, they’re expensive, really good quality ones are hard too, and so it’s just such a great considerate donation,” Carvalho added.

In 2019, during the Budget Blinds’ Heart & Home contest, the local location was the winner of $10,000 which supported their charity of choice, being the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society.