Team up with First Class Facilitation and Victim Services of Renfrew County to Help Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

March 24, 2023 – First Class Conferencing Facilitation (FCCF), a Toronto-based Tech startup, is launching their Empowered by Devices campaign for 2023. 

The campaign launches on April 1st and will run for three months. Recently, the team at FCCF was acting as tech support for an inquest hosted by the Office of the Chief Coroner where they had an opportunity to meet Victim Services of Renfrew County. Hearing the testimonies during the inquest inspired them to do their part to help. A key observation was that survivors of intimate partner violence often need to leave everything behind – including their phone, computer, or tablet.

“For someone, it can be a lifeline – without having a cell phone in some areas, it puts them at greater risk with no way to reach out for help” – Faye Cassista, Program Manager, Victim Services of Renfrew County

FCCF is looking for donations of home security devices, phone and internet plans, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers. All donated devices will then be cleared, cleaned, and refurbished for use by Renfrew County Victim Services.

“After last years successful drive, we wanted to grow the initiative. We could not believe the rising rates of IPV we have seen in Ontario. 

Seeing how access to devices can make such a big difference in survivors lives we knew we had to do our part. Once the inquest concluded we knew we had found our partner for 2023.” – Maddy Hearne CEO, First Class Conferencing Facilitation Inc.

Victim Services of Renfrew County Inc. is a non-profit volunteer-based organization that assists police and other emergency services in providing emotional and practical assistance to people who have experienced a crime, tragic life event or community disaster including:

• Domestic Violence / Partner Assault
• Sexual Violence
• Human Trafficking

The 2021 Empowered by Devices campaign collected over 50 devices that went to help Afghan refugees needing to access services upon arrival to Canada.

If you are interested in donating devices please contact: [email protected]

For more information on this year’s campaign please visit this year’s landing page

– Sincerely

Maddy Hearne, CEO
[email protected]

McKenzie Day, CTO
[email protected]

You can read about the impact of our 2022 campaign in the Globe and Mail here.