Herstory

Sparked by the efforts of Donna Rietschlin and Fran Donohue, WRRC was founded in March 1990. In October, the counselling program began offering service at 48 Front Street, while the shelter building at 145 Beech Street opened in March, 1992. In 1999, WRRC purchased the adjacent duplex at 155 Beech Street, creating two Second Stage Housing units to help address the shortage of affordable housing in the county.

Over the course of the next 20 years, service expanded to outreach sites in Newbury, Parkhill, Glencoe, Melbourne, Ilderton and Lucan.

In 2007, WRRC erected a large sign at the front of the shelter, marking a significant shift in the direction of the agency. It moved from a crisis intervention model to a sustainable, integrated community support service model, and as such, became more visible in the community. Also in 2007, WRRC partnered with the Government of Ontario to launch the Neighbours, Friends and Families (NFF) campaign. The purpose of NFF is to raise awareness of the signs of woman abuse so that people close to an at-risk woman or an abusive man can help. The agency expanded its service to include people close to a woman in an abusive situation, offering them education and support around how to best help her.

As WRRC continues to evolve its services, new challenges include working with more women and children who remain in the home with the abusive partner. The benefit to this is earlier intervention before a potential crisis, but the challenge is how to offer service safely. WRRC is taking on this challenge and looking to develop new models of service delivery.