Did you know that in 2023, with six workshops and performances, the women who participate will be given almost $40,000 in honorariums? Every woman is given $550 to offset out-of-pocket expenses such as childcare and transportation – things necessary for them to be able to take part in our ten-week program. With the rising cost of living and people struggling to make ends meet, these honorariums are more important than ever. 

In exchange for the $550, The Shoe Project receives first rights to publication of the stories and the right to host the stories on our website. Check them out at https://theshoeprojectstories.com/

Please consider a donation to our Women’s Honorarium Fund. Your donation will make it possible for us to help women like Karyna and Kateryna, two of our new participants this fall, who escaped the war in Ukraine and fled to Canada. 

“This year the war came to my home and I decided to leave everything I had and go to Canada on my own. My host family was like family for me. After six months my boyfriend and our dog Becky joined me in Windsor. I love Canada because it is the country filled with people from all over the world who came here just like me in search of a new beginning. I found out about The Shoe Project from my colleague. I love the way it is improving my writing, storytelling, acting and analyzing skills. I am looking forward to sharing my story with others!”

Karyna

Karyna will perform her story at our Windsor performance in the spring of 2023.

“I left my whole life behind when I escaped from my destroyed city in March 2022. I dreamt of being in a safe place and hearing the sounds of life instead of the noise of war. I wanted to forget this sense of pure dread and to feel free and alive again, confident in myself and my future. When I landed in Canada on August 16, I had my beloved family with me, a suitcase with our whole lives, an imaginary box full of memories and a firm belief that this country would support me in everything I aspired to. It has been vastly challenging but now I am here telling my story for The Shoe Project. I saw it as my fighting chance to feel more fulfilled with some sense of my belonging here. I am going to share my story and the hope I have found inside me to show other women with broken wings that anything is possible if we have faith.”

Kateryna

Kateryna escaped Ukraine with her husband and their rescue cat Carlusha. She will perform her story at our Brampton performance in the spring of 2023.