Join the 2026 Great Fish Community Challenge!

Calling all Abbie Shelter supporters!

3 days remain in the 2026 Great Fish Community Challenge, one of our most important fundraisers of the year. To reach our goal, we still need to raise an additional $100,000 by

September 11.

With demand for our services increasing annually, your support is more important than ever. Calls to our Helpline increased by nearly 17% last year. At the same time, the cost of the essential software we use to run our Helpline service also jumped up.

In 2025, we safely housed more than 30 adults and children in our confidential shelter and helped nearly 500 people create safety plans to protect themselves and their loved ones from harm. Your generosity is what ensures that we are here to answer the call when survivors of abuse and assault have nowhere else to turn.

As one recently shared, "Abbie Shelter helped me through one of the worst times of my life. I will forever be grateful for everything they have done for me."

We hope you'll join us in the Great Fish Community Challenge to uplift not only the Abbie, but also the other 88 fantastic local nonprofits participating in this year's campaign.

We are incredibly grateful to the 200+ donors who've already given this year. Your gift helps us make the Flathead Valley a safer place for everyone who lives here. We cannot thank you enough for your support!

THE IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT

We are so much more than a shelter! The Abbie serves thousands of people in Flathead County every year through our 5 core programs: Helpline, confidential shelter, court advocacy, mental health support, and community education. With your support during the Challenge, we can continue providing free and confidential care to survivors of abuse.

A MESSAGE FROM THE "AFTER ABBIE"

As we head into the final hours of the Great Fish Community Challenge, a heartfelt note we recently received from a former resident of our emergency shelter is fresh in our minds.

With the support of Abbie Shelter staff, she was able to secure and successfully move in to a safe apartment of her own after leaving our confidential shelter. Several months later, she reached out to us with an update.

"Thank you so much for all that you do," she said. "For all of us stranded women, you are a light that lets us hope."

She described her new home and shared that a few other past Abbie Shelter program participants also live nearby. "We try to help and look out for each other when we can," she told us. "Each has their own story about how the Abbie Shelter saved their life. I call us the 'After Abbie.' We all love and appreciate you all. Thanks again for the warm apartment, it means everything to me."

Now through Friday, September 11, join us in the Great Fish Community Challenge to help build more life-sustaining safety nets like the After Abbie. We are $100,000 short of our goal to raise the $225,000 we need to continue providing safe shelter and essential supportive services to survivors right here in the Flathead Valley.

The Challenge ends promptly at 5pm this Friday, so act soon! On behalf of the hundreds of community members who access our critical services every year, we cannot thank you enough for your generosity. Your support keeps our light shining so that we can offer the gift of hope to those facing the darkest moments of their lives.

With gratitude,

Kristen Schepker

Executive Director