The Wheatland Crisis Society (WCS) received a very generous donation totaling $16 458.60 from Premier Auctions and the Daye family. 

Cody Hayes with Premier Auctions explained how this donation came to pass.

"We were able to sell two quarters of land near Eagle Lake in June and all of the assets for Wayne and Carol Daye, and as part of our arrangement at the beginning we actually donate 1% of our total sale proceeds to a charity of their choice."

Andrea Daye, Wayne and Carol Daye's daughter, explained why she chose this charity on her parent's behalf.

"Our father was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for 20 plus years, so he was obviously someone who had dealt with a lot of people who had domestic violence in their life and then my mom was always a very strong advocate for women, and I myself am a health care worker and I know that COVID has been very hard for people and there's been quite a substantial increase in domestic violence and it just seemed like a good fit."

Natasha Fyfe, Business Development / Communications Specialist with the WCS expressed that the need is growing as costs rise in all areas, so a donation totaling over $16,000 will make an incredible difference in the lives of many who will walk through the doors of the WCS. 

"This donation is huge for us, we do a lot of our fundraising in the community throughout the year. We are definitely a 90% government-granted facility, but those rates and grants haven't increased since 2015 and if you think back to 2015 till now, the cost of living has skyrocketed. But our government grants for food, for housing, for electricity, none of that has gone up, so everything that we raise in the community goes towards operations for the shelter and above and beyond that it goes for client comfort care."

Daye did express her gratitude for what Cody does to give back.

"I think that it's important to note that the donation comes from Premier Auctions. In the contract that we signed with Cody, he donates to the community and our sale was where the donation came from, but it's Cody who actually makes the donation so he doesn't have to do that. He's the person who gives back to the community."

With many fleeing domestic violence situations, Fyfe explained a lot of families and individuals will arrive at the shelter with nothing, so additional funds can be in place to provide things like basic hygiene items and pajamas. At this time of year something many take for granted that is needed could be winter clothing, including mitts and toques. 

"We try to give them as much as we can to make them feel more comfortable being here, a large portion of this donation will go towards exactly that, buying toothbrushes, clothes just basic necessities that people might need that they might have left behind," explained Fyfe. 

This is not the first time Hayes has made a donation to the communities that Premier Auctions operates in, living just east of Strathmore and also having a facility in the community of Alex he feels that being in a position to give back to those communities is something that he feels compelled to do. 

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