Guests gathered on Saturday night in support of The Wheatland Crisis Society (WCS) as they held their Harvest Masquerade Gala. 

Natasha Fyfe Business Development / Communications Specialist with WCS was grateful to see so much support.

"It's overwhelming the support that came through, when I was planning this whole event we weren't too sure going post Covid how many people were going to attend and what kind of night it was going to be, but we were utterly shocked at the amount of support that came from our community."

The evening was attended by 260 guests who were entertained during dinner by the Peterson Family who performed different song selections, three Indigenous dancers, and an improv show from the Duo Push Button, along with Grant Klaiber, who was thrilled to be back behind the microphone after a couple of years away to be the auctioneer for the live auction portion of the evening, while the evening was wrapped up with a performance by the Locals. 

"It was very important to us to showcase local talent at the event throughout the evening there are so many talented people in our community it was a pleasure to share the stage with," said Fyfe. 

WCS will be entering its 30th year in operation in 2023 and Executive Director Carol Manson McLeod spoke at the gala of the continued support being the difference in the doors being able to remain open, she also shared that since the first day in operation the shelter has been open to everyone regardless of gender, and that is something the team is very proud of as there are only a handful of shelters in Alberta who do that. 

There were opportunities for guests to donate in a variety of ways during the course of the evening, with one lucky winner taking home a $1000 WestJet voucher and the 50/50 winner heading out with $910. The generosity of all those in attendance was more than the team could have hoped for with early tallies estimating over $25 000 being raised. 

Fyfe explained why the yearly fundraising events are so important to the day-to-day at WCS and that all of the money goes directly back to WCS.

"Government funding only covers so much and typically only a portion of our program, so anything else that's fundraised goes towards different programs that we also offer in the shelter. Also, it goes to anything above and beyond what we get from the food bank we do have to buy food for the house and it goes towards those kinds of things."

The team plans to be back in 2023 to honour 30 years of supporting those affected by domestic violence, and Fyfe said that the funds raised will truly help change lives they will again host a fundraising gala and other events during the course of 2023.

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