Earlier this year, Lori Haggerty called our office with her tragic but hopeful story, as well as a request to Women’s Shelters Canada.
She told us about her sister, Patricia Kucerovsky, a mother of twin boys who was brutally murdered in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 2008. Then in December 2020, Lori herself was in a serious car accident that left her with a traumatic brain injury, something that many intimate partner violence survivors also face.
Despite these challenges, Lori had decided to walk across Canada in memory of her sister, Patricia. “My philosophy has always been that if we can take the bad things that happen to us and use the experience to do good then we know we are healed. My physiotherapist says that big feelings require big movements, so I see my big walk as a necessity for my own healing and mental well being,” she writes on her website, Just Walk Away Canada.
The request to us at Women’s Shelters Canada? She wanted to know if she could fundraise along her journey for our organization, and particularly for Sheltersafe.ca, our website that connects women experiencing violence to their local women’s shelter and its crisis line.
It was a resounding yes for us – we were inspired to support Lori and her family any way we could, and this was an opportunity to spread the word about intimate partner violence and the resources out there for those experiencing it.
A huge thank you to the many donors who are supporting our work after seeing Lori as she walks east from Vancouver, BC, to St, John’s, Newfoundland. Lori is also raising funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Follow along with Lori on her Facebook page and watch our socials and website for future updates!
