Nancy's Butterfly Fund

Nancy’s Butterfly Fund
Domestic Abuse Info
Remember Nancy
Canada Sponsorship
USA Sponsorship
Where is the Money Going?
Our Sponsors
Edmonton, AB Events
Cary, NC Events

Canada Sponsorships

Nancy’s Butterfly Fund will inaugurate fund raising events in Cary, North Carolina and Edmonton, Alberta in June 2009, dedicated to help women and children to free themselves from the danger of domestic violence in the memory of one who could not.

On July 12, 2008 the life of Nancy Cooper came to a sudden and violent end. Her loved ones lost a sister, daughter and best friend. Nancy was a woman full of grace, a mother who loved her children without limits and a friend who took everyone under her wing. This senseless act of domestic violence has left us all with questions without answers. For the family and friends of domestic violence victims this is often the case; they didn’t recognize the danger signs, or there just weren’t any. Over the past months we have questioned how we can bring something positive from this devastation; our answer has become our desire to help other women and children leaving domestic violence situations. This is the chrysalis for “Nancy’s Butterfly Fund” that will strive to help women and children trapped in Domestic violence.

Nancy’s murder was characterized by Pat Bazemore, Chief of Police for the Town of Cary, as “…a case of domestic violence of the very worst kind..”During the months that followed, as we strove to cope with the aftermath of this horrific tragedy, we learned much about domestic violence. According to the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, Greater than 170 homicides were identified as domestic violence related in Alberta from 2000 - 2006. This represented 1/3 of all homicides in the province.

Consider that somebody you care about could be wrestling with the decision to leave a dysfunctional domestic situation today. Then consider that, in Alberta, according to the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, in 2008 over 12,000 women and children were resident in Alberta’s shelters and 14,000 women and children sought shelter but were unable to be accommodated. The memory of our Nancy’s entrapment makes us want to help.

In the time it has taken you to read this letter, or in the three minutes it takes to brew a cup of tea, three women in Canada will be assaulted by an intimate partner. The emotional and financial resources necessary for a mother and children to escape to safety can be overwhelming. Nancy’s Butterfly Fund, the Canadian contingent, has agreed to work through the Edmonton Community Foundation to help support the efforts of Edmonton and area services for victims of domestic violence.

Our first fundraiser will be a dinner, dance and silent auction at the Royal Glenora Club on June 20, 2009. On July 12 we will hold our second fund raiser, a 5 km walk/run at Gold Bar Park. Net proceeds from these events will be donated to Nancy’s Butterfly Fund.

We are one group who has a desire to help because we lost someone we loved. We are asking you to find a reason and a way to help, somebody needs you today.

Sincerely,

Jill Dean
jdean@citinc.ca
780-702-9259

Krista Lister
krista_lister@cogeco.ca
905-469-9263

Garry Rentz
grentz@citinc.ca
780-702-9256

Donna Rentz
drentz@citinc.ca
780-702-9257