Clack! Clack! Clack! was the sound made by 50 men marching down Nipawin’s Main Street in high heels to promote awareness about violence against women.
Sgt. Darren Wouters, the Nipawin RCMP’s commanding officer, was one of the men walking in bright red high heels at the May 5 Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event.
“I first participated in this probably four years ago in Melfort and I can’t think of a more worthwhile cause for anybody, especially for the RCMP, to be involved with,” he said. “We deal with lots of domestic violence and violence against women and anything we can do to help bring awareness to the situation and help raise funds towards it is something we feel good doing.”
The event was spearheaded by North East Outreach, which operates a domestic abuse shelter in Melfort. It raised between $6,000 and $7,000 for the organization.
This was the first time the event was held in Nipawin, thanks to a partnership with the Town of Nipawin, KidsFirst and Cumberland College. Before, the event was held in Melfort.
“We wanted to move it around,” said Louise Schweitzer, North East Outreach’s executive director. “It was originally set up to be something that moves around the Northeast and Nipawin showed an interest this year, so we were more than glad to bring it to Nipawin and have the individuals in Nipawin walk and support North East Outreach and Support Services and create some awareness in their community as well.”
Rennie Harper, Nipawin’s mayor, was pleased to see the event in her town.
“It’s absolutely wonderful. It’s a very worthwhile cause. It’s a way of getting our community to learn what equality’s all about and to learn about violence and sexual abuse against women and to come out together and have a good time.”
Kenneth Heinrichs raised the most pledges as an individual, raising $250. He joked he wanted to wear the bright red shoes, as it was his favourite colour.
“I just did it for the fun of it to see how much I could make,” he said. “I just think it helps the people and all that and I just thought it was a good cause.”
The Bunge High Steppers raised the most as a group, donating more than $2,000. Jim Harper, a member of the team, said they wanted to raise awareness to victims of violence against women.
“I just encourage everybody to come out if we have this again next year, challenge all organizations and businesses in Nipawin to support this very worthwhile effort.”
He said his company matched the pledges the team members raised.
“We all feel strongly about this being a great cause and wanted to participate.”
Trevor Bragg was part of the Diamond North Credit Union Agony of De-feet team.
“We all feel strongly about this being a great cause and wanted to participate,” he said, adding later he’s supported other North East Outreach events like last year’s telethon.
Schweitzer said Walk a Mile in Her Shoes has an important role to help those facing domestic and sexualized violence.
“It’s so important because it creates a sense of awareness in a fun way that people talk about,” she said. “It’s very visible and for the victims that are possibly living in silence and still living in the violence, it shows them there are men out there that don’t stand for domestic and sexualized violence and they will make a stand against it.”
The executive director said the location could be in Melfort, Nipawin or Tisdale next year, depending on support in those communities.
