On International Women’s Day, people around the world celebrate the political, cultural and socio-economic achievements of women near and far.
And we have many extraordinary women to honour right here in Elliot Lake who make our community a better place.
While it is important to mark this day with celebration, it is also a time to reflect on the reality of gender inequality in our world.
Women, girls and non-binary people are at the highest risk of experiencing domestic abuse, homelessness, poverty and gender-based violence.
In an effort to promote gender equality and assist women facing adversity in our community, ElliotLakeToday created a campaign to raise much-needed funds for Maplegate House for Women.
The campaign was simple. We secured care packages for Maplegate House for Women, donated by Foodland Elliot Lake, and asked our readers to purchase the care packages for the shelter at $25 apiece through our online pop-up store, with all money donated and the care packages to be donated to the shelter.
ElliotLakeToday then matched the $25 care package purchase price to double the donation.
But that’s not all.
We were able to leverage the power of our community to make the donations even bigger by asking our local business partners to match our donation.
Beamish Construction, Canadian Tire Elliot Lake, Denison Mines Inc., ELNOS and Sunwire Inc. all answered the call.
For each care package purchased in our pop-up store, every dollar was matched six times with all proceeds going directly to Maplegate House for Women.
In Elliot Lake, the generosity of our readers and advertisers was translated into a donation of $2,625 for the shelter, plus the care packages!
Thank you for helping us to strengthen our community and empower local women in need here in Elliot Lake.