Domestic violence continues to be an ongoing issue here in Cochrane and the surrounding areas.

Tara McFadden is the Fund Development and Public Relations Officer for Big Hill Haven and she says that in wake of the global pandemic domestic violence cases have been escalating at an alarming rate.

"With domestic violence, we've found an increase not only here in Cochrane but across the province, across the country and more broadly of course across the entire world," says McFadden. "The patterns just seemed to echo from area to area."

Mc Fadden says that during an extremely challenging and unprecedented year, the Cochrane community has rallied together, and around the Big Hill Haven Women's Shelter to help them to develop the capacity and be there to support women and children who are in an abusive situation and bring them to safety.

"One of the keys to getting through this year has been that adaptability," says McFadden.  "I have so much gratitude and applause to everybody involved in Big Hill Haven. they've enabled us to flex and meet that need. Like most non-profits, we usually have fundraisers, with the lockdown, all of how you could do that changed. It was no longer possible to have those big gatherings where you could come together."

While those gatherings weren't able to happen this year, McFadden says that they were still able to pull off two major fundraisers that allowed people to stay socially distant in their motorcycles and classic cars while raising significant funds for Big Hill Haven.

"We did have our two fundraisers in the spring and summer, the Ride 4 Her and the Cruise 4 Her," says McFadden. "People were able to get out on their bikes in support of our cause and get out in their fancy cars in support of our cause. Together those two fundraisers raised over ten thousand dollars."

A provincial grant also helped the Big Hill Haven to bring on another outreach worker this year, allowing them to expand their hours of service, and Mc Fadden says that for the first time ever, this year they were able to provide their own housing solution for women and kids fleeing domestic violence.

"Thanks to a Calgary Foundation grant in large part and some matching grants here in town, we were able to actually start housing people," says Mc Fadden. "In August we were able to actually open up our own shelter space in a secure location. Also, thanks to funding and the ongoing support we have from the community, today I can happily say that we have two staff. Support is now available five days a week and on-call support for weekends and evenings."

While domestic violence situations grew over the course of 2020, awareness was also brought to the forefront here in Cochrane.

On November 25 Cochranites sported purple clothing and some even dyed their hair purple to show their support for victims of domestic abuse.

The newly built Jack Tennant Memorial Bridge was also illuminated in purple lighting for Go Purple Day.

Big Hill Haven's mission statement is that a safe tomorrow starts today, and they are "committed to ending the cycle of abuse and violence by raising awareness through prevention, intervention, and education."