Woman to walk from Chilliwack to Vancouver to raise awareness for domestic violence

Woman to walk from Chilliwack to Vancouver to raise awareness for domestic violence

Published 5:30 am Saturday, August 29, 2026

An Abbotsford woman will soon walk 100 kilometres in under 24 hours to bring attention to domestic and intimate partner violence.

Mandy Dhillon, who lives in the Sumas Flats area of Abbotsford, will make the on-foot journey from Chilliwack to Vancouver on Sept. 19 to raise funds in support of SARA for Women, a feminist non-profit group that provides community-based resources for women in the Fraser Valley.

“I created ‘100KM FOR HER: Walk a Day in Her Shoes’ because I wanted to do something that made people stop and think about what it can actually take for a woman to get from abuse to safety,” wrote Mandy Dhillon in a press release. “The walk gives me a reason to start the conversation. The conversation is what matters.”

The walk will begin at midnight on Sept. 19 in the Promontory area of Chilliwack, where Dhillon used to live. She will meet with the public around Promontory and Uplands roads.

“Four years ago, I left that street and finally chose myself. I walked away from a marriage of almost 30 years and a life I had spent a very long time trying to hold together,” Dhillon said in an email. “When this idea came to me in May, I knew I wanted to go back to the place I once had to leave and walk away from it again, only this time I would be doing it on my own terms and with my head held high.

“There is something very personal about taking those first steps from there.”

Dhillon’s journey will take her through Abbotsford, Mission, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam and Burnaby before she reaches Vancouver. She wants to arrive at Science World in Vancouver by 11:30 on Sept. 19.

Dhillon hopes to raise $55,000 in support of SARA for Women.

“When I picture 55,000 people, I picture a sold out music show. We can fill stadiums with tens of thousands of people to sing, dance and celebrate together, and I genuinely believe we should be able to bring some of that same collective energy to something this important,” Dhillon said. “55,000 people giving $1 is $55,000. It could also be 2,200 people giving $25 or 1,100 people giving $50. When you look at it that way, I don’t think $55,000 should be impossible.”

Dhillon will also be a holding a community walk in Vancouver on Sept. 20.

This community walk, called ‘The Final Steps’ by Dhillon, will begin from Creekside Park near Science World at 10 a.m. and will follow the seawall to Hadden Park.

“The two days really represent two parts of the same vision for me. Sept. 19 represents the journey a woman may have to take to reclaim her life. Sept. 20 represents the reminder that she shouldn’t have to make that journey alone,” Dhillon said. “The Final Steps is open to everyone, including women, men, families, friends and children. You don’t need to have experienced violence or personally know someone who has. I simply want people to come and walk beside us.

“For those final kilometres, I want us to show what it looks like when a community collectively says that violence against women will not be tolerated and that women experiencing it are not somebody else’s problem.”

For more information, or to donate in support of SARA for Women, visit bit.ly/m/100KMFORHER.