It's been a year of change at High River's Rowan House Women's Emergency Shelter.

The biggest change was at the top with Sherrie Botten leaving after 10 years of running the organization and replaced by Timmi Shorr back in June.

Shorr says "change" is the right word for 2019.

"One of the big things is just the tremendous change that's happened at Rowan House. Change in leadership after 10 years. Increased needs of clients, more complex, more pressure on services. Just the fact the staff have pulled through and adapted and is still doing the good work is a testament to the good people in that organization."

One of the reasons Shorr was brought in was for her fundraising ability, particularly when it comes to planned additions to the Rowan House's facilities, including "stage two" housing.

Shorr says they're still very much in the planning stages of that.

"The expansion project is in front of the board right now. We completed a capital campaign readiness study, so we looked at the environment. We all know things have changed a lot in five years in terms of how people are struggling in the economy and the government changes. So we really wanted to make sure this was the right time to make this expansion. So, that's still being talked about and we don't have a final answer on that yet."

Shorr says even six months into the job she's still surprised at the level of support Rowan House has in High River and the Foothills.

 

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