For more than 20 years, Kim Fisher has worked at the Saskatoon YWCA helping women and their families receive the supports they need and doing it with kindness and compassion. 

The YWCA is many things to many people in our community. There is an employment and learning centre that helps people learn the skills to reach their employment goals. The childhood development centre provides daycare to kids from across Saskatoon. And of course there is the gym that many years ago I frequented when I was a university student living a block away from YWCA. 

For this episode, we focus on the YWCA’s Emergency Crisis Shelter, the long term residents and the programming it provides to women and their families in need of help. 

Kim Fisher is the Director of Residential Programs at the YWCA and is a very busy person. She oversees several different support programs, which she talks about in our conversation, and has been helping with the organization’s efforts to expand their capacity through their Hope Lives Here campaign. 

The need for safe housing is high in Saskatoon.

In 2022, the YWCA Crisis Shelter and Residence turned away more than 4000 women, youth and children looking for a safe place to stay in our community. 

Kim shares the wonderful news of the campaign’s success and the expansion happening right now at the YWCA in our conversation. She also explains why it takes so much courage for women to seek out the help and services offered at the YWCA and why this work means so much to her.

Thank you so much for listening and supporting a local, independent podcast. Please leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear and feel free to tell a friend about YXE Underground!Cheers...Eric 

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis