Capital Campaign Press Release

Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre’s Mission Outgrows Its Walls; New Centre to Meet Growing Need and Strengthen Response to Child Abuse.

Built for 1,000, Luna’s current Centre now supports almost 5,000 children and youth each year.

CALGARY, AB – September 16, 2026 – Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre is launching a campaign to raise $7 million in support of its move to a new, purpose-built, trauma-informed facility in Calgary. The new space will help Luna meet the growing demand for its services and strengthen coordinated support to children, youth, and families who have experienced abuse. Thanks to a series of foundational gifts, Luna has already raised 55 per cent of the $7 million goal and looks to the community for support to achieve its goal.

Serving Calgary and surrounding areas in southern Alberta, Luna brings together the systems with a mandate to respond to child abuse, including police, child protection, medical and therapeutic services, justice, and victim services, all under one roof. More than 140 professionals from these systems work together as one team at the Luna Centre, sharing information and coordinating resources in real time.

This integrated approach reduces the number of times children and youth have to retell their experiences, helping to prevent further trauma while providing specialized support through assessment, investigation, the justice process, and every step of their healing journey.

More than a building. A place for healing:

Luna’s current facility was designed to serve approximately 1,000 children and youth each year but now supports nearly 5,000, making a larger space essential to keep pace with the growing need.

“Luna’s mission has outgrown its walls,” said Karen Orser, CEO, Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre. “For 13 years, we have been a place where children and youth can feel safe, be heard, and begin to heal, and where the professionals responding to child abuse can work together as one team. Today, we are supporting more than five times the number of young people our current Centre was designed for. We need a Centre that matches the scale of the need we see today and gives us the capacity to be there for children, youth, and families for generations to come. This campaign is about building that future.”

The new facility has been designed specifically around the needs of children and families experiencing the effects and trauma of abuse. It will build on Luna’s existing multidisciplinary model by providing additional space, enhanced privacy, accessibility, and purpose-built environments that support the work of the professionals who come together to help children and families. The new Centre will create greater capacity for this work while providing an environment designed with the experience and needs of children at its core.

Since opening in 2013, Luna has supported more than 30,000 children, youth, and families through some of the most difficult experiences of their lives.

"For more than 13 years, Luna has been one of our closest partners in supporting children and families impacted by abuse,” says Calgary Police Chief Katie McLellan. “Together, we've seen the difference that coordinated, trauma-informed care can make during some of the most difficult moments in a child's life. As Luna begins this next chapter, we are proud to stand beside them and continue working together to ensure children and families receive the care, compassion and support they need."

Each year, the need for Luna’s services continues to grow alongside Calgary. A city that is among Canada’s fastest growing is also seeing continued growth in its child and youth population, making the need for accessible, coordinated child advocacy services increasingly important.

“Luna has always been an example of what is possible when our community comes together,” said Orser. “Child abuse is a community issue, and keeping children and youth safe and supported is something we should all be invested in. We are at another important moment for Luna and for our community, and we are asking individuals, government, businesses, foundations and community partners to help ensure we can continue to provide the strongest possible response when children and families need us.”

The $7-million capital fundraising campaign will help ensure the new Centre has the capacity and resources to meet this growing need and support children, youth and families for generations to come.

Luna enters its public campaign with 55 per cent of the $7-million goal already secured. Those early gifts came from donors and community partners who were brought into the vision as plans for the new Centre took shape. Luna is now turning to the broader community to close the gap.

For Luna, the campaign is about much more than bricks and mortar. It is about ensuring that every child who needs support has a place to feel safe, be heard, and begin to heal.

To learn more about Luna’s Capital Campaign, visit https://www.lunacentre.ca/capital-campaign