The Today Centre is hosting its 3^rd Annual Help Today, Hope Tomorrow Fundraising Breakfast on Thursday, November 23, at the Delta Hotels Edmonton Centre Suites. This year’s theme is ‘Disrupting the Stigma’, focusing on how we can and why we should disrupt our perceptions and assumptions about the realities of what it looks like to be a victim-survivor of family violence, especially after a survivor may have left the relationship. The Breakfast’s keynote speaker, Deena Kordt, podcaster, author, and owner and publisher of Divorce Magazine Canada, will tackle the conversation on what it looks like to ‘disrupt’ those preconceptions and assumptions surrounding family violence. Speaking from her own experience as a survivor of 30+ years of abuse, Deena hopes to encourage guests to think critically about what it means to support, uplift, and encourage a victim-survivor of family violence while finding solutions to helping those impacted find their way toward living a life free from abuse and the stigma associated with it.

In society, the word stigma often represents a figurative ‘scar’ or invisible ‘mark’ of shame, and it can often refer to negative, hurtful, and unjust beliefs that a community or the overall public at large have about something or someone that they perceive to be unlike themselves. Regarding family violence, stigma associated with this ever-increasing issue leaves its victims, survivors, and loved ones feeling helpless, embarrassed, and uncomfortable to even talk about what happened/is happening. Unbelievably, many encounter insensitive and callous statements that can cause those suffering to hush up and keep their trauma and distress inside.

To assist in the fundraising efforts of The Today Centre, the event will host an exclusive 5-item silent auction with an array of staycations, packages, experiences, and more. All proceeds from the event will go directly towards supporting The Today Centre’s programs and services, which allow their team of Family Violence Specialists to help clients navigate and mitigate their risk for abuse, increase their safety through directing and connecting clients to appropriate resources and planning measures, providing education around family violence and its impact, and creating individualized safety plans catered to client needs. To ensure they are available to anyone in need of help, The Today Centre’s Family Violence Specialists are available to meet with clients online, over the phone, or in person at their location on the West end of Edmonton.

The Today Centre encourages everyone, whether impacted by family violence or not, to join them for this annual fundraising tradition with a delicious breakfast, some ‘stigma-busting’ entertainment with comedian Donna Lynne Erickson, door prizes, and more. Tickets for the event are just $75 and can be purchased on The Today Centre website or using this link here

If you are unable to make the event, The Today Centre is also looking to partner with local companies and businesses to help make this event a success. Whether by supporting the event financially with a sponsorship, assisting in fundraising by donating an in-kind silent auction item, providing your services for print or media, or simply spreading the word, The Today Centre is grateful for your support! To get involved with the event, please contact The Today Centre’s Community Engagement Specialist Linda Kelly at [email protected] or their Communications Specialist Shay at [email protected].

You’re invited to join us on November 23 from 7:00 AM – 9:30 AM at the Delta Hotels Edmonton Centre Suites! We hope to see you there!

At The Today Centre, family violence help starts today.

The Today Centre
Email: [email protected] | Phone: (780) 455-6880
www.thetodaycentre.ca