Ritzy evening planned for Leahey Clinic
Women’s centre seeking sponsors for major fundraiser planned for early April
In the midst of a cold winter, the Friends of the Tri- County Women’s Centre are at work planning what they say will be a festive and glittery evening to celebrate the return of spring.
Billed as Puttin’ on the Ritz, the event is scheduled for Saturday, April 7, from 8 to 11 p.m. It will include live music, great food and a few surprises, say organizers, who are building on a smaller event hosted in a private home several years ago.
This time the venue is the Yarmouth airport. The entertainment will include the Moonlight Swing Band. The band, though modelled after the big bands of the 1940s-50s, includes a broad range of popular music in its repertoire.
Organizing committee member Sundae Wiser says the friends group is aiming high and has set its goal at $10,000 in support of the Tri-County Women’s Centre, with a particular emphasis on the Leahey Wellness Clinic located at its Yarmouth offices on Cumberland Street in Yarmouth. Tickets are $ 25 and will go on sale soon. The group is reaching out for sponsors and donors of goods and/ or services.
The fundraiser will help address an ongoing shortfall in funding. From left: Sundae Wiser, Janice Comeau, Lynn Surette and Bernadette MacDonald are among those involved in organizing a fundraiser for the Tri-County Women’s Centre, in particular for the centre’s Leahey Wellness Clinic in Yarmouth. The event – Puttin’ on the Ritz – will take place April 9 at the Yarmouth airport.
“The provincial funding the women’s centre receives for the services and programs being provided through the centre and the Leahey Wellness Clinic is not adequate to meet the demand for services,” says women’s centre executive director Bernadette MacDonald.
The Leahey clinic provides community- based primary health services, mostly to people without a family physician. Last year, the clinic provided primary health services for nearly 700 individuals – women, men and children.
Dr. Shelagh Leahey provides the medical services at the clinic, which is open two half-days a week.
The Tri- County Women’s Centre provides a multi- issue entry point for women and girls to access services and programs throughout Yarmouth, Shelburne and Digby counties.
In the last year, nearly 1,500 women and girls accessed support, counselling and advocacy services. Poverty, legal issues, sexual trauma, mental health, child custody and addictions are among the challenges most often facing those seeking services from centre staff.
The Tri-County Women’s Centre provides a multi-issue entry point for women and girls to access services and programs throughout Yarmouth, Shelburne and Digby counties.
For more information about Puttin’ on The Ritz or to donate goods and/or services for the auction, call Marlene Surette at 902-742-0085 or email marlene@ tricountywomenscentre.org.