POWER is launching an Emergency Fund to provide sex workers with financial support in the form of $100 grants. We know this is not much and is not enough to help with major costs like rent, but we are hoping to assist sex workers in the Ottawa-Gatineau area who could use this for emergency expenses such as food costs and medication.
POWER is not a service organization, and usually our efforts are directed at fighting for decriminalization and fighting against the stigmatization of sex work in Canada. As such, we do not usually provide funds to sex workers like this, but this crisis is hitting our communities very hard, and so the POWER board has decided to dedicate a significant portion of our funds to emergency relief. We have dedicated $4,000 to our own Emergency Fund, along with donating $4,000 to Willow’s to support street-based sex workers and $2,000 to Ottawa Independent Companions’ Emergency Fund.
If you or someone you know wishes to apply for our fund but does not have internet access or a bank account to receive an etransfer, please email us at powerottawa@gmail.com and we will make alternate arrangements.
If you would like to donate to the fund, please contact us at powerottawa@gmail.com.
We would like to thank Maggie’s and Butterfly for providing us with details on their own emergency fund process to help in designing ours.
In love and solidarity,
The board of POWER