KIM BURTON-SCHRAM
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER
Anna Russell is on a quest to raise funds for Baldwin House, a safe home for women who have experienced domestic abuse. Anna Russell is a real estate agent who is part of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation helping women and children find shelter. Anna had a table at LouLou Lavender recently to raise funds towards her charity. She was selling homemade lavender & lemon ice cream, shortbread cookies and lemonade kits – and each was delicious.
LouLou Lavender was the perfect setting for the popup booth. Visitors to the farm could view the picturesque fields of row upon row of purple lavender, while they enjoyed their homemade treats to help support Anna’s fundraising project. Anna Russell says LouLou Lavender donates all the lavender that she dries to use for her lemon & lavender treats.
Anna Russell participates in charity treks across different countries, walking 100km in just five days. This year, Anna will be walking across Cambodia to raise funds for Baldwin House. To qualify for the trek in Cambodia, Anna had to secure a minimum of $6,000 in donations. To date, Anna has surpassed that amount and set a new target of $20,000 to raise for her charity through the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. All actual costs for the trek are paid by those participating in the walks. For Anna, who is adding on a four-day visit to Vietnam after her cross-country trek in Cambodia, her own costs that she pays herself are just under $10,000. With airfare coming in at $3,400, the cost for the trek at $4,065, plus insurance and the excursion to Vietnam, this expedition is the most expensive of the five treks Anna has participated. There will be 120 Canadian trekkers completing the walk this year in Cambodia, with four groups of colleagues from across the provinces to share in the adventure.
The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation is the largest public Canadian foundation dedicated to funding women’s shelters and abuse prevention initiatives exclusively since 1998. Royal LePage is the only Canadian realtor with its own foundation, and to date, has raised over $51 million in support of 200 women’s shelters, helping over 50,000 women & children each year.
The funds Anna Russell raise go towards helping women & children living in abusive situations. 80 per cent of the funds go directly to Anna’s choice charity, Baldwin House. Baldwin House is open seven days a week and women can seek shelter any time of the day or night. Women staying at the home receive needed counselling support, food, living necessities and information to assist them. Baldwin House provides childcare and assists women in creating plans to ensure theirs, and their children’s safety.
The remaining 20 per cent of Anna’s fundraising goes towards youth education on abuse promoted through the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. Because the administration of the Foundation is by Royal LePage corporate staff, there are no administration fees deducted, allowing 100 per cent of the funds raised to go back into communities. “I have raised over $75,000 with my five treks including this one,” said Anna Russell. “But with all my fundraising over the years that I have been in real estate, I have raised and donated over $150,000.” Before Anna was a resident in Glengarry and supporting Baldwin House, her fundraising efforts were directed towards Nelson House Women’s Shelter in Ottawa.
Anna Russell will continue her fundraising efforts into the fall with a special High Tea to be hosted at the Cline House Gallery. Tickets for this event will be on sale soon, with limited seats available and all proceeds going to support Baldwin House. If the lavender and lemon cookies are any reflection of the specialties on offer at the tea, this is guaranteed to be a lovely and tasty event.
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