Walk a Mile in Her Shoes third event coming to Bonnyville Pontiacs game

Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority Fire Chief Jay Melvin tries raising another pledge for the Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre during the first period of the Bonnyville Pontiacs game for Walk a Mile in Her Shoes last year

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes is coming back to Bonnyville.

The third annual event ran by the Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre is coming to the Bonnyville Pontiacs game when the team plays the Drumheller Dragons.

Volunteers will don red high heels while walking around the stands at the RJ Lalonde Arena asking fans for pledges to raise money for the crisis centre’s Bonnyville operations.

The initiative happens worldwide as men are encouraged to take steps to end domestic and family violence.

“We’re really excited to continue our partnership with the Bonnyville Pontiacs,” said Cindy Yang, resource development coordinator.

“It’s always been really successful, they have such a great following that really helps reach a group of people. At the same time, you get kind of that public education piece as well as helping us fundraise, so we’re really fortunate.”

Over the next couple of weeks, Yang is hoping to recruit influential people in the town to donate and pledge to the volunteers walkers.

Although the DMSCC does not have fundraising targets for these events, they’ve been able to raise between $5000-6000 in previous years.

The focus remains however on public education.

“When we do this in Bonnyville, we try to keep all of the funds to come back to support the Bonnyville community outreach team there. The fundraiser we would presume are going to be coming through Bonnyville, so it feels really only right if it was coming back into Bonnyville to help the community members there,” she said.

Since 2016, the Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre has offered its services in Bonnyville in New Park Place with 1-on-1 counselling services, community programming, and advocacy.

“If someone’s not able to actually walk the event itself, but they’d like to help out in advance with pledging, we can definitely make that happen. We’re also happy to make accommodations for those that might not be fully comfortable wearing those heels. Like booty covers or whatever the limitations might look like, we can have that discussion as well to make sure that it’s a win-win for everyone,” said Yang.

To pledge or if you’re interested in walking, you can contact Cindy Yang at 780-826-9875 or resourcedevelop@dmscc.ca.