My Promise
I promise to give back by donating 5% of emma lyn essential revenue (pre expenses) to adsum, for women and children each quarter. Updates will be shared throughout the year.
Why adsum?
There is so much desperate need for help in this world. We must begin by looking inward and being the ones to take action. I promise to do my part and give back from day 1 and hope this inspires others to do the same.
Pre pandemic, I would volunteer 2x/month at adsum house cooking brunch for the wonderful women in the shelter. Once Covid hit, the shelter began to struggle, no help from outside was allowed. For that reason, I want to continue to give back and help women in our local community have a safe space.
Once adsum accepts volunteers again, I highly suggest choosing it as a space to spend your time. If you’re unable to donate time, please consider dropping clothing donations to the house vs Value Village etc.
About Adsum, For Women and Children
About Adsum:
“Adsum shelters and houses as many as 120 people each day and more than 300 persons in a year. Hundreds more use Adsum services and support without ever staying with us, often related to their basic needs for safe and affordable housing, food, clothing and connection.
Adsum has a long history of working with marginalized individuals and families who experience poverty and homelessness. At Adsum, we know first-hand how poverty, systemic discrimination, gender inequality, racism, disabilities, and trauma intersect and create layered barriers to securing stable housing. Adsum clients face diverse social and personal obstacles that include, but are not limited to; mental illnesses, lack of education, single-parenthood, addictions, and histories of trauma and violence. The folks we work with are managing complex life challenges, while negotiating systems that further contribute to their marginalization, such as criminal justice, community services, child protection, and immigration systems.
Adsum recognizes that the more marginalized an individual is, the more complex their experience of oppression will be, and the more likely they are to experience unstable housing and homelessness. We work from an anti-oppressive, feminist, trauma-informed framework.
Adsum works predominantly with women. Adsum also works with families, most of whom are women-led by single mothers. Women are more likely to be poor than men and are more vulnerable to homelessness and unstable housing. Women’s homelessness is directly related to women’s disproportionate experience of poverty, systemic discrimination, gender inequality, and violence.
We see women from racially marginalized communities, as well as newcomer women, who struggle with language and cultural barriers. Most recently, we have seen an increase in women whose first language is Arabic and have reached out to translation services to have our policies and procedures translated. Adsum also works with many First Nations women, and strives to have cultural and spiritual needs met, such as inviting smudging in our spaces.
Adsum doesn’t only work with women-identified individuals. In 2008, Adsum instituted our trans-inclusion policy, recognizing that individuals who identify as transgender, non-binary, and genderqueer are especially vulnerable to discrimination in housing, and are vulnerable to violence in men’s shelters. Some families include male partners, to whom Adsum provides services.”