Mariana says that when she returned to Canada last November after spending five years caring for her ailing mother in France, she didn’t have a lot of choice.
"The only option I had was to be at the shelter,” she says. “I didn't have money to take an apartment . . . because my mother was sick in France.”
She adds: “If I didn't have the shelter, I don't know where I (could) live.”
Mariana is one of two women from Cornerstone’s McPhail House in Ottawa who rode alongside Cornerstone directors, partners and volunteers early this month to help raise $6,000 for the charity’s emergency shelter on O’Connor Street.
The group rode as participants in the Ride for Refuge, a yearly cycling fundraiser that raises money and awareness for displaced, vulnerable or exploited people. Across North America, teams can register for the event and raise money for local or national causes of their choice.
Ottawa’s ride this year routed around Terry Fox Drive and the South March Highlands Forest in Kanata.
“It’s a fun way for us to be with other people that are in the same business of helping those in our community,” says Cornerstone resource development manager Connie Franklin.
She says the charity is hoping to use the proceeds from this fundraiser to support the women who come through the shelter by providing some belongings to bring with them when they move on to their own apartments.
“A set of sheets, a blanket, a new pair of pajamas. The things that most of us take for granted,” Franklin says.
Mariana, who says she lived in Canada for more than 15 years, spent one month at the emergency shelter when she came to Ottawa last year.
"It's a good cause, and we have to go and support them,” she says. “They are doing so many good things for women here. (It) is exceptional.”
Cornerstone runs four different residences for at-risk and homeless women, including an emergency shelter and three longer-term supportive houses for women who are looking for permanent housing or who need special supports related to aging and mental health.
Last year, about 400 women spent time in the emergency shelter, and more are turned away because the shelter cannot accommodate them, the organization says.
“The women who come to O’Connor Street are in a state of crisis,” Franklin says. “They’re there to have some place to be off the street, have a bed to sleep, have a shower, hot meals, and have someone help guide them through the next step of the process.”
Mariana is one of the many women who moved through the emergency shelter to longer-term McPhail House, according to site co-ordinator Melanie Somers.
Somers says she always tries to get the women from her house out into the community, and fundraisers like these are great way to have the women more involved in what Cornerstone does.
The ladies in the house, we try to get them out and do as much programming stuff as possible,” she says. “I think it's nice for everyone to see who Cornerstone is. The face of Cornerstone isn't just the staff, but it's also the women.”