With recent numbers showing they are turning away more woman and children than they are able to help, a new women's shelter in Rocky Mountain House can't come soon enough.
 
The Mountain Rose Women's Shelter has purchased land in the heart of the community and is set to start construction on a new abuse prevention centre this August or September if all goes according to plan.
 
Executive Director Cindy Easton says their current 10 bed emergency shelter and meager office space is about 2100 square feet, they'll be moving to a 3 floor 20,000 thousand square foot facility.

“The main floor will be mostly community support offices, and admin offices with a child play room, an aboriginal healing room and an intake office for the shelter. The shelter will become a 21 bed shelter; it will be on the second floor. And then the third floor is a new service that we will be providing, we will have 5 second stage housing apartments”.

The second stage housing is for women and children fleeing domestic violence who have come through the shelter and who would like more support; they could move into the apartments for up to a year and a half to get the support they need.

In 2015 the Board of Directors launched the capital campaign to raise funds for a new facility with more space desperately needed according to Easton.

“We help around 180-185 women and children through our shelter every year and that number has been pretty consistent. Unfortunately every year we track how many people that we have to turn away. Two years ago we turned away about 280 women and children and last year it was 364 women and children so the needs are getting greater but because of our configuration we can’t help out any more”.

The current shelter configuration has the 10 beds in 3 bedrooms, sometimes leaving the shelter full with just 6 people as families must stay in a room together.

No doors are ever closed, the shelter works to refer those they don’t have space for to other shelters or emergency housing options.

The new abuse prevention centre comes with a $4.5 million dollar price tag, and the Mountain Rose Women’s Shelter is hopeful for more donations, through a buy a brick campaign and naming rights available in the facility. For more information or to offer your support click here.

It will be built at 4712 46th Street in Rocky Mountain House, with hopes they’ll be opening the doors late summer or early fall 2018.

Easton says shelter services were first offered in 2005 in Rocky when they partnered with the town to convert the old post office into the current 10 bed emergency shelter.