Photo courtesy of walkamileinhershoes.org
The old saying, “you don’t know what I’ve been through until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes” will be put to the test this weekend in La Ronge.
The Piwapin Women’s Centre will he holding its second annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event to help raise awareness of women and children who have been victims of domestic and sexualized violence by having men walk a mile in red, four inch high heels.
Jaclyn Angus is the organizer of the event, and says there has been a lot of interest. Last year, she said about twenty men donned the high heels as a public statement to show support. This year, she says thirty men have signed up to take part.
“Right now, we have some RCMP members who are going to participate, along with some EMT members, people with probations, and we are hoping to get some participants from the conservation office and the fire department,” she added.
She says last year’s participants found out it isn’t as easy as it looks.
“They said it was extremely difficult. All of them were very sore after doing the walk, and a lot of them said they didn’t understand how women could walk in those shoes,” she says.
The walk will begin at 3:00 p.m. at the bingo hall in La Ronge and head to the Lac La Ronge Indian Band urban reserve.
Angus says the participants will receive a bottle of water and some band aids, she mentioned the band aids may get used more than the water.
Walkers in the event will be raising pledges for the Piwapin Women’s Centre Second Stage Housing. Angus says this helps clients transition to living accommodations until they can find apartments of their own.
Money raised from the pledge drive will help buy furniture for the second stage housing.