YWCA Regina gifted $5 million by Rawlinson family for new centre

It’s being called a transformational gift.

The YWCA Regina Centre for Women and Families is being gifted $5 million by Gordon and Jill Rawlinson and their family. The YWCA says it will create ripples of meaningful impact for women and families for generations.

“This 85,000-square-foot building will operate with a trauma-informed approach and wraparound services that provide crisis and preventable supports through the work of the YWCA in partnerships with other community-serving organizations and practitioners,” YWCA Regina CEO Melissa Coomber-Bendtsen said Tuesday.

That means a place to stay, but also help for families to develop lasting solutions to the barriers faced by vulnerable women and children.

According to Coomber-Bendtsen, more than 10,000 women and children per year will take advantage of the service.

“We’ve been working on this project for what seems like forever,” she said. “Over the last five (or) six years, we were really looking to try and solve the problems of (turning people away) that we saw in our shelter as well as other community organizations. We were looking at how not to just build new shelter beds, but also how to work with women and families before crisis, so we can prevent the need for folks to enter into crisis.

“Through research and data, we really started to understand that it was about working with other community organizations, about providing wraparound services and a sense of community, so that idea of hope and belonging could be there for women and children when they were struggling.”

Tom Newton, the vice-president and general manager of Rawlco Regina, spoke on behalf of the Rawlinson family. He said the issue is important to the hearts of the family.

“This important transformational building is poised to make such a huge difference in our community,” Newton said. “Gordon and Jill also understand about giving back to improve the lives of those in our community and it’s the right thing to do. It’s been a fundamental pillar of their family values over the years and they’re continuing that spirit on with this initiative here today.

“Giving back to a healthy community and improving lives of families is why the Rawlinson family understands that this new Centre for Women and Families is so important.”

The capital campaign has now raised $13 million and is looking to raise another $7 million.

The project has also received support from all three levels of government, including $33.9 million from the federal government through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund. The provincial government is contributing $1 million through the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation, and the City of Regina is providing the land, which was valued at $2 million.

Construction on the centre is set to begin in late fall and the building is set for completion in 2024.

Gordon Rawlinson is the owner and CEO of Rawlco Radio, which owns six Saskatchewan radio stations, including 980 CJME, Z99 and 94.5 Jack FM in Regina.