Sara Smith brings out all the stops when it comes to Valentine's Day for at-risk women in the North End of Winnipeg. 

"The idea was thinking about, whether I want to celebrate Valentine's Day, stay in and watch a movie with some ice cream, or whatever, there's some people in our community that can't do that," says Smith, founder of Galentine's. "That might be an especially hard day for them if the reason they're accessing resources is because of a domestic situation. The idea is to give gifts and show love to these people because we can do it."

In 2015 Smith started Galentines providing gifts by herself. It's since grown into a partnership with North End Women's Centre alongside some of her friends with an event that blesses roughly 300 women. 

The Galentines event this year is taking place on Friday, February 16 where Smith and her group of six volunteers will give women a full lunch and access to a candy bar. She also has hairdressers who volunteer their time to give women free haircuts and a gift bag for each lady. 

"We want to make sure nobody goes away empty-handed. The kinds of things we put in the gift bags are those little luxuries. Things like shampoo, toothpaste, moisturizers, warm fashion winter accessories, lipsticks, nice self-care items, face masks, and hair masks. They're filled to the brim with goodies that will make them feel special."

Smith is still looking for some monetary donations to make this Galentine's Day event special. For people who want to donate, they can go directly to her website here. 

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