Shelter still in need although second stage housing is open

By Alisa Howlett

BELLEVILLE – The local women’s shelter successfully opened its second stage housing recently, but the executive director says community support is still needed for the shelter, especially at this time of year.

“Our shelter is still operational, we haven’t moved. A lot of people think that this is a new shelter, it is not,” Sandy Watson-Moyles, the executive director of Three Oaks Shelter and Services, said.

The second stage housing is an eight-unit apartment building fully equipped with kitchens where women can stay all year, she said. It’s a space where women can work to find safe, permanent housing and also provides counselling services as needed to help victims of abuse get back on their feet, she added.

The first client was moved in on Sept. 26, 2014, but the grand opening of the second stage housing will be in mid-December.

The shelter is grateful to community members and funders, the original goal of $1.3 million was met, Watson-Moyles said. But she also said it is still in need of donations.

“We still require the ongoing support that people give the shelter, especially this time of year. People are always so generous around Christmas,” she said. “… When this is promoted as such a strong family-time, it just makes it that much sadder for somebody who finds themselves living in a women’s shelter over the holidays.”