$46K raised for domestic violence shelter in Sturgeon County

About $46,000 was raised for Jessie's House at the seventh-annual Jessica Martel Memorial Walk and Run in Morinville on Sunday.

About $46,000 was raised on Sunday for an emergency shelter offering safe space to victims of domestic violence in Sturgeon County.

Nearly 200 people attended the seventh-annual Jessica Martel Memorial Run and Walk in Morinville.

The funds raised will go to the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation and an emergency shelter that is being built in Martel’s honour, called Jessie’s House.

“Our shelter will be a little bit unique in that it will serve both men and women,” said Janice Isberg, the foundation’s executive director.

“There’s only one other shelter in Alberta that does that.”

The event and memorial foundation are named after Martel, who was murdered by her common-law husband in 2009.

In her memory, Martel’s loved ones have worked to raise awareness and support for the issue, as well as a shortage of first-stage shelter in the Morinville area.

“We need a place for people to go who need to be safe,” Isberg said.

Ground was broken on Jessie’s House in September 2018.

The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2019, and to open in 2020.