Agape’s Purple Gala supports, celebrates women

Agape House is holding once again its popular Purple Gala, which is a celebration of women.

“It’s going to be a night of connection, community, and celebration. It’s something I look forward to every year,” said Lisa Fast, outreach and housing coordinator.

The Purple Gala is the non-profit’s main fundraiser of the year. Last year, it garnered just shy of $11,000. Fast hopes to exceed that amount this year.

“Every year, we have an amazing variety of silent auction prizes that gets donated from the community. We just found out recently…thanks to WestJet, they donated a free trip for two people anywhere that they fly to. We’re super excited to be able to have that as a silent auction prize as well.”

The event will take place on March 7 at 6 p.m. at the Friedensfeld Community Centre with cocktails, food, and live entertainment. The keynote speaker will be Tsungai Muvingi who is the provincial coordinator at the Manitoba Association of Women’s Shelters.

“Were also going to have a lot of impactful stories from survivors themselves coming and sharing their stories of strength and resilience, and kind of how their journey has gone, and how we supported them,” said Fast.

Agape House has been serving women experiencing domestic violence in the Southeast since 1985. It began as a three-bedroom bungalow and has now grown into a 16-bed shelter. Agape sees more than 200 clients a year and responds to more than 1,000 calls annually.

“…we’ve been at capacity for the past year. I would say on a regular day we can have anywhere from five to 10 women,” said Fast. “Our catchment area is quite large. We do cover the entire the Southeast of Manitoba and our clients can come from anywhere, really. We’ve seen clients come from up north, we’ve seen clients come from the south. We’ve had clients come from different provinces fleeing domestic violence. They can really come from anywhere.”

Manitoba had the second-highest rates of police-reported intimate partner and family violence among Canadian provinces in 2022, according to Statistics Canada.

Manitoba’s intimate partner violence rate was 633 victims per 100,000 people, up from 476 in 2014. The province’s family violence rate increased to 585 in 2022 from 453 in 2014.

Fast explained the reason women choose to come to Agape House is because they are looking to live in Steinbach or a smaller community. Also, they may have supports, such as family or friends, in the area.

Tickets to the event are $50 for individuals and $400 for a table of eight. Tickets can be purchased through Zeffy.com.

-With files from the Winnipeg Free Press