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4th annual Walk in HER Shoes takes place this Saturday

June 14, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

Family Transition Place (FTP) and the MENtors group will be hosting their fourth annual Walk in HER Shoes event this Saturday (June 16) to continue to raise funds and awareness on domestic violence against women.

Since its launch in 2015, the Walk in HER Shoes event has raised over $15,000 for FTP. This year’s goal is $10,000. The money raised will go towards community and youth education.

“The idea is to raise eyebrows, awareness, and funds for Family Transition Place,” says Stacey Tarrant, FTP’s manager of development and community relations.

Last year’s efforts raised over $6,500, with approximately 40 men in attendance.

From 10:00 a.m. to noon, participants will start at Town Hall, and then make the difficult half-kilometre trek along Broadway to get a feel of being in a lady’s shoes. There will be three stops along the way, at Black Wolf Smokehouse, H&R Block and Royal Bank of Canada where a representative from MENtors, FTP, and a survivor of women’s abuse will speak.

Ms. Tarrant says for this year’s event, they encourage men to bring “whatever shoes they may” that a woman uses, from flip-flops, sandals, running shoes, and moccasins, to the well-known pink high heels.

Minister Carl Lipke of the Message Christian Church is doing his own take on the event. He is challenging 15 men and boys to participate in the event, and if the number is reached, he will do the Sunday service the following day in pink high heels.

“The church should be standing against domestic violence,” he told the Citizen. “We’re all equal.”

Ms. Tarrant says the event takes place just before Father’s Day as “healthy relationships really begin at home,” and many men who are part of the planning committee have daughters, and feel passionate for education and ending violence.

MENtors is a subsidiary of FTP launched by men who are committed to helping end the cycle of violence against women, as well as building healthy relationships within the community.

“It’s so wonderful to see men take a stand and recognize that this just isn’t a women’s issue, that this is a community issue, and that we all need to be involved in ending the cycle of violence against women and girls,” Ms. Tarrant added.

She described the event as a way to bring the community together, and said the participants are very excited. “It’s really instrumental in engaging men and boys as part of the solution.”

Registration is $20, for children 12 and under it is free. To register, visit familytransitionplace.ca/fundraisers/mentors-walk.

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