The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is helping the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society (MHWSS) through a donation of $292,000 to upgrade and renovate its Phoenix Safe House, an emergency shelter for women and children. The MHWSS serves Medicine Hat and the surrounding rural areas in southeastern Alberta.
Bruce Hill, Medicine Hat Alberta Stake communication director, described this donation as “just one small part of the Church’s worldwide initiative for women and children, which was announced in June 2024.” The Church is expanding and accelerating its help for vulnerable women and children.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Global progress starts with nourishing children and strengthening women,” said Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson. “When you bless a woman, you bless a family, a community, a nation. When you bless a child, you invest in the future” (“Relief Society Leads Global Effort to Improve Health and Well-being of Women and Children,” June 12, 2024).
Linnsie Clark, mayor of Medicine Hat, attended the event announcing the MHWSS donation, including a tour of the shelter, on December 18, 2024. Sheexpressed her gratitude to the Church for its second donation to the small community in two years. She said, “[I] was impressed that the worldwide Church would be mindful of our small and remote community in such a large way.”
Natasha Carvalho, MHWSS executive director, explained that the Church’s contribution will cover significant work at the shelter to better meet the community’s needs for years to come. “Community stepping up is always so amazing to us,” said Carvalho. “And when the Church approached us about this type of donation, we were really blown away. … It really means we can keep the doors open and fund this new renovation. So it’s a big blessing.”
The MHWSS’s current renovation project will expand the emergency shelter to accommodate up to 45 residents. Hill explained that the Church’s donation will cover some of the project costs, “including an education room, community kitchen, daycare, interfaith room, 12 new bedrooms, 12 new bathrooms and security features, including access control, motion detectors and cameras.”
MHWSS provides a full spectrum of shelter and support services to victims of family violence. Services include emergency and long-term safe shelters, outreach services, adult support groups, youth and child support, community education programs, educational advocacy and daycare for children while parents attend educational programs.
In 2023 and 2024, the shelter supported more than 1,141 individuals through its emergency shelter, second-stage shelter and outreach programs. It also supported 1,975 callers through its 24-hour helpline.
Jennifer Ottenbreit, MHWSS’s director of administration and operations, said, “We are overjoyed at the [Church’s] generosity to help bring our vision to life, where we can offer victims of family violence a place that provides every person that comes to see us with dignity and a safe, accessible place to heal.”