Journal by a Transition House Women's Support Worker

Women's Support Workers are also referred to as front line workers.  This is because we work directly with individuals in need of advocacy and justice.  This work is on the front lines of the struggle against barriers experienced by some of the most marginalized people in our society.  It is passionate consuming work with profound rewards and difficult emotional stressors.  

Most of us are left at the end of the day with very little energy to think about issues of funding and the financial well being of the organizations we work for.  As a result we are particularly grateful when an organization, such as the Canadian Women's Foundation, takes on a fundraising campaign that raises money which we know will go directly to meet the needs of the women we serve.  

Today a community member made an anonymous donation.  It was just a small amount but the staff team immediately began discussing what we might put the money towards.  Despite the team's strong feelings that staff are inadequately compensated for the work we do, every suggestion put on the table was for something that would directly benefit the women we work with.  Just a small donation and our dedicated staff joyously directs it towards making a difference.  This is one of the profound rewards of the job that I wrote of earlier.  What a joy it is to witness so much passion to make a difference in a woman's life.

Fundraising is just one of the many essential levels of work that are needed in order to effectively do social change work.  Front line workers, legal aid workers, fundraisers, justice workers, volunteers, police, policy makers, lobbyists and many others make up the community of dedicated people who do anti-violence work in our communities, in our country and in our world.  Without them we would live in a world where there was much less hope and considerably more injustice.  These people need to be supported in their work and given the tools and funds to exceed at doing what they do best.  This means support at the financial but also the political level.  We need to be acknowledged and recognized as the essential services we are in order to end violence against women and children, violence in our communities and to create justice for the marginalized and the survivors.