What a year 2024 has been. Although this year has undoubtedly had its challenges, we’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done over the past 12 months at Nellie’s, and are looking positively towards 2025 and what progress we’ll be able to make in our efforts to empower women and their children towards a new path in life.
One of the most significant highlights of the year was the reveal of our brand new look, which helped us shift our image to better reflect the Nellie’s of today. After 50 years, we’re now moving into the next phase of our existence, with a more broadened and inclusive mission, alongside a stunning new website and an innovative new logo and tagline. While we’ve long been known as a crisis organization for women and their children escaping violence, today we’re also focusing on how we can work to move the needle forward in breaking the cycle of gender-based violence.
This shift also helps to reflect the fact that Nellie’s is a much bigger organization than people often think — we’re much more than just a shelter. And while our shelter will always be at the core of our operations, we want our community and supporters to know more about the crucial work we do outside of the shelter, because it all works together towards keeping women safe: you can’t keep women safe if they’re not housed in a secure place; you can’t keep women safe if they don’t have enough food. All of our services work to break the cycle of gender-based violence by empowering women to be more resilient and self-sufficient. At the core of what Nellie’s does, and has always done, is to try to give women the tools to make change in their life. Our branding transformation this year finally aligns our language and visual identity by more accurately reflecting not only who we are, but who we’re working to become.
Heading into 2025, we’ve started working through an in-depth review of all of our programs and services, to ensure that our participants are getting value out of what we’re providing. We’ve kicked off this process already by reviewing our food program and our Women on the Move program (for women with physical disabilities who have experienced abuse). These evaluations will help drive stronger programming in the new year, making sure the services we offer will be better suited to helping the women and their children who are coming through our doors. We’ve also recently hired some very energetic and dedicated social workers who will help deliver these programs — we’re looking forward to seeing the amazing work that all of our program workers will do in the coming year.
Although there are many successes to mark over the past year, there are also harsh realities around the current financial climate. Fundraising donations continue to be down from previous years, which is unfortunately not entirely surprising considering how rising costs and inflation are affecting everyone right now. But the question remains: how do we maintain the same level of services if our funding is down? We’re doing our very best to work through this challenging time, but there’s no doubt that it will continue to be tough for all working in the gender-based violence sector. We’re very grateful to be awarded some government funding, such as the recent Women’s Economic and Leadership Opportunities fund through Women and Gender Equality Canada, but truthfully we all need to keep working to advocate to the government en masse to provide greater funding to this sector.
As we wrap up the year, we want to thank you all for your continued support — it’s because of you that everything we do is possible. From all of us here at Nellie’s, and all of the women and their children we support, we wish you all a happy and safe 2025.