2020 Generosity of SpiritTM Awards
The opportunity to collaborate and give back to families and individuals in need of support has been a very rewarding experience. Each of us has the power to make a difference and we live in a city where incredible people are living this possibility each and every day, The collective impact and success stories on the differences that will be felt for the good of future generations is incredible.
Lauretta Enders
Nominated by HomeFront
Lauretta Enders embodies what it means to give your time, talent and treasure to support the greater good. Through her work with HomeFront and various other charitable organizations, Lauretta demonstrates and exemplifies the essence of philanthropy. She consistently goes above and beyond for the causes that she is passionate about, and has a keen ability to inspire those around her to make our community a better place.
Through the last five years, Lauretta has been a key player in raising over $350,000 for HomeFront. Not only has she contributed dollars, she has donated countless hours of her time to creating an immensely successful fundraiser for HomeFront called Fashion Forward. The 2018 Fashion Forward event alone raised over $100,000 that was directly used to support families impacted by domestic violence.
HomeFront is a non-profit organization in Calgary that works collaboratively with the justice system, police and community partners to help free families from domestic violence. When a charge is laid in relation to domestic violence, HomeFront is there to support the victim and help them to navigate the court process; offering referrals, resources, emotional support, court information and helping them to feel safer. The money Lauretta has raised has gone directly into our client services. We know it takes $500 to end the cycle of violence for one family, which means her contributions to HomeFront have helped nearly 700 families to break their cycles with domestic violence. That’s intergenerational violence ending, and families given the opportunity to live safe and healthy lives free of violence. Lauretta’s work changes family dynamics today, injects behavioural nuances for children tomorrow, and saves lives.
Lauretta is committed to engaging the public in dialog about domestic violence and creating opportunities to build awareness surrounding this issue. Most recently, Lauretta took her expertise in property management as well as her experience and knowledge through her long-standing work with HomeFront to provide a seminar alongside one of our HomeFront Team Leaders to educate Landlords on dealing with Domestic Violence. These speaking engagements gave practical information to landlords, property managers and on-site workers to help reduce the incidence and severity of domestic violence on their premises; helping them to identify, spot early signs, how to act and what recourses are available in the city.
Lauretta advocated to her husband Kurt Enders, President of Checker Yellow Cabs to help HomeFront in our mission. Through this partnership we were able to create the My HomeFront campaign, a large scale awareness campaign that was seen on 800 cabs (1,600 doors) over the course of 3 years. This campaign happened because of Lauretta’s innovative vision and “can do” attitude – where there is a will, there is a way, and Lauretta is bound and determined to find that way.
The My HomeFront campaign raised HomeFront to new heights in the charitable sector, increased our awareness and raised over $45,000 dollars to benefit the families we serve. Surveys showed that by the end of three years, 87% of respondents reported an increase in their awareness for HomeFront as a result of the campaign. 94% reported the purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness of HomeFront or domestic violence; End Domestic Violence; Provide support to victims of domestic violence – which were all messages of the campaign. Lauretta’s gift of opening doors and inspiring action made these results possible. This unique public awareness campaign help position HomeFront as specialized domestic violence agency in Calgary.
One of our clients expresses her gratitude to the work HomeFront does and how it made an impact in her life, “HomeFront was my voice when I wasn’t able to be that voice. My case manager was an amazing listener and gave me great positive feedback. I believe that HomeFront has allowed me to recover from this experience, and I am extremely grateful for the work HomeFront does.”
