“Ride 4 Her” is a charity motorcycle ride on June 6, 2020, with hopes of raising over $5,000 for Big Hill Haven Women’s shelter in Cochrane.

The fundraiser was organized by two Cochrane based real-estate agents, Ken Morris of Royal LePage Integrity and Debbie Leah of Royal LePage Allstar. Morris says that he has participated in similar charity rides, which gave him the idea to bring it back home. “Last year. Some of us did a ride out in BC with some people across Canada, and raised funds for shelters and then we thought, well let's see if we can do it here for our local one right in Cochrane.”

Tara McFadden is the Fund Development & Public Relations Officer for Big Hill Haven Women’s Shelter and she says the need for fundraising is growing every day. “I cannot underscore how needed fundraising is when we look at domestic violence. Here in Cochrane and across the country even, it was an epidemic even before COVID-19 hit. What's being experienced now is a 30 percent spike in domestic violence.“

“The funds raised will be going to be to support our operations so that we can continue to help women right now. One of the goals this year is to get to an emergency housing unit in play with the proper support. We really do want to expand and start to be able to provide those housing solutions because right now if somebody needs housing in the Cochrane Area area, it doesn't really exist beyond maybe a couple of nights in a hotel to relocate someone into housing for like transitional housing, We’ve never been able to do that locally.”

If you would like to participate in Ride 4 Her or donate, check out their Facebook page for more information.