A week after the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE) announced it was pausing intake for some of its clinical services, a group stepped forward with a donation to help them continue. SACE said last week the loss of a two-year $1.8 million provincial grant received in 2023 would affect adult counselling, child and youth counselling and core therapeutic groups. On Monday, CanadaOne Auto, which represents a number of vehicle dealerships across Canada, wrote an $85,000 cheque to SACE to help make up the funding shortfall. Anastasia Goddard of CanadaOne said she shared SACE’s story on social media last week after hearing about the funding issue, and a number of dealerships came together to help fund the centre. “I had an overwhelming amount of friends reach out to me, having a personal story with SACE, and so it just kind of snowballed,” she told reporters on Monday. “At first it was just going to be one dealership at a time, and then to get everyone on board and everyone understanding how big of a deal this actually is and how much they need our help right now is really the main point of this.” Mary Jane James of SACE said she was shocked by the donation. “I can’t really put into words just how much this money means to us. It came as a complete surprise. It’s not common for us to receive donations of this magnitude,” she said. “It doesn’t get us out of the hole, but it goes a long way to demonstrating to us that, yes, there are tons of people in our community who support the work that we’re doing.” James said the money will allow SACE to reopen its counselling intake, but they’re still more than $1 million short of the funding needed to continue previous programming levels. “Not everyone can afford to donate, and I totally understand that, but everyone can afford to call their MLA, call the premier. Let them know this is an essential service that should be funded and sustainably funded,” she added. “We are the only agency in the greater Edmonton area that provides this extensive range of services at no fee. And I will add that many of our clients simply couldn’t afford to access counseling in a private clinic.”
