Casey Richardson "We're seeing more and more senior women that are really desperate and destitute." The South Okanagan Women in Need Society has seen a growing demand for help with domestic violence services, particularly among senior women who are facing financial difficulties and a lack of affordable housing. “Some of them are living in their cars.
They're coming in for anything we can help them with. We have a rent supplement program which is maxed out, so they're coming in searching for some kind of help," SOWINS executive director Liz Gomes said. Given the age of the women, Gomes said many of them didn't work outside of the home throughout their lives and were mostly caretakers of their families.
“They don't have maybe as much of a pension as another person and they still have that pressure put upon them to keep things together, even as an elderly person...
And they finally leave, or maybe they still can't leave, and they just need to come in here, just to talk it out with someone on how to stay safe and stay physically safe and emotionally safe.” The organization will support the women through every part of their journey and wherever they are in their life. Recently, SOWINS shared a story from an 86-year-old about leaving an abusive relationship, to bring awareness to people that people of all ages, all demographics, can be abused.
“When people think of domestic violence or intimate partner violence, they think of the mid-20s lady with a couple of children and, w.