Welcome

The Shield of Athena Family Services is a non-profit community based organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children victims of conjugal and family violence, particularly those coming from ethnic and Anglophone communities. The Shield offers services in a wide variety of languages and uses an approach which is both culturally and linguistically attuned to the needs of the ethnic communities. With one office in Laval and the other in Montreal, it is involved in three core activities:

• Specialized, multilingual, services for victims available at the Montreal and Laval offices

• The Shelter (Athena’s House) provides a multilingual, safe and empowering environment for women and their children victims of family violence

• Multilingual services for communities which informs communities in their language of origin on various topics related to family and conjugal violence

 

News

 

Sunday, November 2, 2008: The Shield held its 15th Annual Art Auction at Marché Bonsecours. With a record-breaking 450-plus guests in attendance, the Art Auction was once again our major annual fundraising event. It featureed a Silent Auction of valuable and original items. The Art Auction featured 42 artists and 112 major works. Please go to the Annual Auction in the navigation bar for more details!

September 2008: The Shield was featured in the Barreau du Quebec's newspaper, Le Journal du Barreau, in the article "Violence conjugale : Briser les tabous et informer les communautés culturelles" by leading Quebec legal journalist Myriam Jézéquel. The article can be viewed at: http://www.barreau.qc.ca/publications/journal/volume-40.html No. 9.

Wednesday, July 17, 2008: The Shield was the recipient of a $ 5000 donation from the Toskan Casale Foundation. Many thanks for your generous contribution to our grassroot organization!

Wednesday May 21, 2008: Trafalgar School student Angela Matziorinis raised $5,000 for the Shield. The Trafalgar School project was aimed at helping students learn about various local organizations. Students created fundraising presentations for a charity of their choice. The winning submission raised $ 5,000 for the selected charitable organisation. Thank you very much Angela! We are honored that you chose to support the Shield!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008: The launch of the 2008- 2009 Membership Campaign in the courtyard of the Bâton Rouge Restaurant on de la Montagne Street was attended by more than 100 guests. Proceeds will go to the Shield of Athena Family Services (SOAFS) and la Maison d'Athéna. The Shield acknowledges the support of Chris Ann Nakis, past President of the Shield, the Bâton Rouge staff, and the Comedy Nest for a successful evening.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008: The Shield with UQAM held a press conference to launch a research report entitled "Raising Awareness on Conjugal Violence in Ethno-Cultural Communities: Evaluation and Results of the Awareness Campaign of the Shield of Athena Family Services".