BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

A weekend ice-and-music show coming up at the Sportplexe 4 Glaces in Pierrefonds will go a long way toward helping the West Island Women’s Shelter complete a $2.4 million expansion of its services, the shelter’s director said.

The April 7 show, featuring some

big-time skating and musical talent, should allow the women’s shelter — the only one of its kind in the West Island — to complete work on part of the new extension that will not be covered by a government grant.

The shelter’s second phase, dubbed La Maison Alternat’elle, will consist of 14 apartments and a common area coupled with offices, meeting rooms and play areas for children of residents. The expansion, director Kim Cairnduff said, will allow the shelter to provide longer-term housing and follow-up psychological help for women and their children who are seeking a stable place to live for up to a year.

“The first floor will have the offices,

the playroom and a conference room,” Carnduff said. “This part of the facility won’t be covered by the social-housing grant,” she said, adding the large-scale expansion is just the way the shelter likes to do things.

“We don’t want to do it a little bit at a time, like normal people,” Cairnduff said, laughing. “We need to raise the money for construction, for furnishing the apartments - women often come to us with nothing but the clothes on their backs —and for extra security features that are more expensive, but necessary, given our mission.”

The idea behind the expansion is to allow more follow-up attention for battered women and their children who come to the shelter and don’t have anywhere to go.

“The length of stay is a year. We’re doing this to allow clients to get back on their feet,” she said. Construction is currently underway and is supposed to be finished by September.

Fundraising is nearly complete — just $135,000 left to bring in — and it’s hoped this event, which will feature three-time national figure-skating pairs champions Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin, nationally-ranked ice dancers Mylene Lamoureux and Michael Mee and up-and-coming pairs competitors Chantal Lefebvre and Arseny Markov as well as French-language pop stars Meggie Lagace and Corneliu Montano — both former Star Academie competitors — will put them over the top. It’s being

produced by the Pierrefonds Figure

Skating Club

“We’re hoping for a good turnout,”

Cairnduff said.

Shows will be held Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.Tickets are $25 and $10 for kids, and can be purchased through the Pierrefonds Figure Skating Club at 514-626-6350.

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