VINEart at Home

ROB MURRAY: I’m joined today by the new CEO of the YWCA of Banff, Ebony Rempel. We’re here to talk about the VINEart at Home event, but first I want to ask – I’ve interviewed your predecessor Connie numerous times.  These are big shoes to fill. How has the role been going so far?

EBONY REMPEL: Connie is leaving a legacy. It is big shoes to fill and I’m working hard, hitting the pavement. Connie’s still around and I think people will still see her for a little while longer in little ways here and there.

RM: What’s your background?

ER: I’ve lived all over Canada. Previous to this I have been working in the women’s sheltering sector across Alberta and have been involved with some of the work that we’ve been doing at a provincial level, and also come from a space of research connected with a Western University in London, Ontario, where I’m about to defend my PhD.

RM: VINEart Gala is normally a big gala dinner and fundraiser at the Fairmont Banff Springs. It was actually one of the first event casualties of the pandemic last March. A year later and we’re still in the pandemic, so you’re changing things up?

ER: We had to cancel I think within two days’ notice last year, so we’ve had a whole year of watching others pull off these virtual events and now we’re going to give it a shot on March 25^th. We do have some really cool things that we are introducing this year. No big elaborate gala but we are doing an at-home version of it. People can choose to buy a VIP ticket for $150 which will include a virtual wine tasting, two bottles of wine and a charcuterie board from Valbella. We have some local artists and entertainment, and people will hear a little bit from me and a little bit from our board president Selena.

RM: What else is going to be going on at the event?

ER: We’re going to have our auction in a similar fashion to normal years. We have a lot of pretty amazing bottles of wine, some beautiful pieces of art, some sculptures. We also are doing a raffle prize, so anybody that buys a ticket for the main event or the VIP will also get access to our raffle which has some local experiences. A lot of options for people to get involved and to help us out.

RM: Where does the money from this go?

ER: The YWCA Banff is no different than many other businesses and nonprofits that have been struggling this year. The thing for us is that our hotel, which is normally a huge source of revenue for us, when COVID hit many of the folks that were already on the verge of being homeless or experiencing violence, this just kind of exacerbated with the pandemic, so we’ve been seeing an increase in crisis calls. We’ve also had to increase our shelter rooms because of this and we’ve had no social enterprise hotel revenue to support these efforts. While the community has been extremely generous and we have been able to access some grants, we still are in a bit of a tight spot. This year, funds from the VINEart at Home event are going to go to support all of these gaps so that we can continue to have folks there answering the crisis calls, and to support those that are accessing our housing programs and our counseling services.