The Airdrie and District Victims Assistance Society (ADVAS) – serving communities in Rocky View County, including Beiseker, Crossfield and Irricana – had a record-setting year in 2019, and its not a record the organization had hoped to break.
“It’s been happening every year where the caseload and workload the society takes on has grown – we break this record year after year,” fund developer Conor Tapp said. “We’re so pleased and so proud to be able to serve the community in the way that we do with the critical assistance that we provide, but at the same time, we really wish that wasn’t the case with some of the individuals who need us.”
In 2015, he said, ADVAS associates assisted in just less than 2,300 cases, but in 2019, that number climbed to more than 4,300. The number of domestic and family violence cases more than doubled in those four years, jumping from 1,048 in 2015 to 2,126 in 2019. From 2018 to 2019 alone, overall cases increased from 2,752 to 4,305.
According to interim executive director Lori Rehill, ADVAS worked on 330 files to help residents living outside Airdrie city limits.
"I'm not surprised at the increase and the growth, due to the growth in our communities, and our economy does not help the situation," she said. "And because there is so much more awareness out there, people are reporting simple things like verbal arguments, looking for resources to de-escalate the situation."
Another element of the organization’s increased demand comes from the community’s broader knowledge about ADVAS, which has been serving Airdrie and area since 1994. Referrals don’t just come from RCMP in the midst of a criminal case, Tapp said – the society also receives calls from medical professionals and other service providers who have patients or clients who would benefit from the assistance ADVAS offers.
This assistance, he said, involves providing immediate support and resources to people as they cope with what might be the worst day of their lives.
“When you have an individual who is experiencing trauma or who is the victim of a crime, you want to make sure they have all the help they can have,” he said.
According to Tapp, academic studies indicated when support is offered to victims of tragedy or crime, they survive the ordeal more successfully and see quicker recovery times.
“A youth who’s been through a serious trauma or tragedy and receives assistance has a higher probability of graduating high school, and we have better outcomes in terms of our physical and mental health,” he said. “And so it’s a critical service – not just from the government side, but also the community side – that we should be looking at and acknowledging.”
However, securing funding has been a challenge for ADVAS, which recently brought Tapp on to ensure the society can bring in enough money to continue providing these services to the community. While government dollars help cover ADVAS’ criminal files, additional funding is needed.
“We are really hoping members of the community step up,” Tapp said. “We’re asking for $60,000 from individual contributions, and then we have additional requests going in to different levels of government and corporate foundations.”
A major part of the organization’s fundraising campaign, he said, involves speaking out more about the valuable service ADVAS provides. Since the 1990s, Tapp said, the society has been working in the background 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support those who need it.
"More calls is better than a homicide," Rehill said. "That preventative work is really important."
