by Tristan Turner
Morinville News Correspondent
Council has unanimously voted to sponsor the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation’s annual Break Free Gala for an amount of $1,000, following a unanimous vote.
The Foundation was founded following the death of Morinville resident Jessica Martel and seeks to provide support to women fleeing domestic abuse in the region. The Break Free Gala is an annual auction, fundraiser, and community event for the local non-profit.This year’s event takes place Oct. 28.
Council was presented with two sponsorship options from Administration, one at $1,000, another at $2,500.
Councillor Nicole Boutestein made the motion to support the Gala at the lower amount, arguing that she felt the event was important and was happy to support it. The lower dollar amount was justified because she felt Council should hold back on distributing too much sponsorship money for the rest of the year to allow the incoming Council to have some sponsorship money of their own.
Boutestein’s motion passed unanimously with limited debate from Council.
In support of the Gala, and to avoid competing with the non-profit for ticket sales, the Morinville & District Chamber of Commerce announced this week that they would move their Gala and Awards night to Nov. 30 from the original Oct. 26 date.
