Joel Goldenberg – The Suburban LJI Reporter
The Shield of Athena marked 32 years of helping victims of conjugal violence by raising $150,000 for its planned Second Step Shelter. The Lilac Event, held at the Palace Convention Centre, celebrated the work of the organization and its staff.
“As the need for the Shield’s services continue to grow, funds raised will ensure the completion of Laval’s only Second Step shelter and support the expansion of Athena’s House, the Shield’s emergency shelter,” organizers said.
The Second Step Shelter is scheduled to open in 2024 and “will have 17 apartments which will be able to house women and children for up to two years. During their time at the Second Step shelter, the women will receive the specialized support they need to emerge stronger and self-sufficient.”
Melpa Kamateros, Executive Director of the Shield of Athena, pointed out that “our Second Step shelter will be able to house between 34 and 54 people at any given time.
“On behalf of our entire organization – and the people that their contributions will help to lift up, I cannot thank our community and our sponsors enough for their support.”
Chris Ann Nakis, President of the Shield of Athena, said that “our Lilac Event was an incredible success, and this evening is only the beginning of a concerted campaign to increase the support for women and children in crisis.
“Currently, we provide services in 17 languages to 1,100 women and children annually. Every penny raised is critical to continuing and expanding our work.”
Carole Leblanc, President of Mercedes-Benz Laval and Godmother of the Second Step Resource, said that the ultimate goal is to “eradicate violence against women and children.
“Unfortunately, until that dream becomes a reality, the women working at the Shield and all the resources they provide are so very precious to our community.”
In addition to individual donors, premium sponsors of the Lilac Event were: The Azrieli Foundation (Platinum), Schwartz’s (Gold), Global Montreal (Media), ICI Television (Media), Mercedes-Benz Laval (Silver), Banque Scotia (Silver), Pantazis and Associates (Silver) and The Papadimitriou Family (Silver).
Also on hand for the Lilac Event were Chomedey MNA Sona Lakhoyan Olivier, Mille-Îles MNA Virgine Dufour, Laval-des-Rapides MNA Celine Haytayan, Côte des Neiges-NDG city councillor Despina Sourias on behalf of Mayor Valérie Plante, Laval councillor Sandra El-Helou on behalf of Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer, Greece’s Consul General Katerina Varvarigou, and Armenia’s Honourary Consul General Levon Afeyan. The emcee was Bell Media broadcaster Debbi Marsellos.
More recently, St. Laurent MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos brought up the issue of gender-based violence, saying on Nov. 27 that “today is day three of the 16 days of activism. This issue continues to plague us. In 2022, 184 women were brutally killed in Canada, mainly by men. In other words, one woman or girl is killed every 48 hours.
“Thousands of women and children use the services of women’s shelters, but every night, roughly 300 women and children are turned away because the shelters are already full. That is a real problem. As a society and as a country, we need to do better. I would like to say how much I appreciate the work that the women’s shelters do to help women who are victims of domestic violence. I would like to thank a couple of organizations in particular that are making a huge difference in the community of St. Laurent: the Centre Amal pour femmes, and the Shield of Athena. To all the employees of these centres and all those who work every day to save women’s lives, I thank them very much.”