This June marks 40 years since the doors first opened at Huron Women’s Shelter, then known as Survival Through Friendship House. From day one, it has been a safe haven supporting countless women and children in crisis across Huron County. Behind the founding of the shelter is the remarkable story of a woman whose determination, compassion, and lived experience lit the spark: June Taylor.
“She was a protector,” says her granddaughter, Laura Duckworth.
Laura was only five when June passed away in 1995, the youngest of sixteen grandchildren, but she grew up hearing stories that shaped her understanding of who her grandmother was—and the difference she made in her community.
June’s journey to create the shelter began with her own experience of abuse.
“She wanted a place for women to go to feel safe because she was herself abused in the home and she didn’t want that for other women and their kids,” Laura explains. June was raising nine children in a home marked by abuse. She made the courageous decision to leave her husband and was granted a divorce in 1966. “But he would still come to the house she lived at with her children and terrorize them.”
Those years of fear and instability left a lasting impression, but they also created a determination in June to create something better for other women and children facing the same struggle.
Though it would be nearly two decades before the shelter officially opened, June never let go of the idea that women deserved safety and support. Her own experience became the driving force behind her years of work to make that vision a reality. She dreamed of a safe, welcoming home where women could escape violence and begin to rebuild their lives.
With few resources available locally, June looked to other locations. She heard of a safe house in Manitoba and began writing letters to them, asking about their program and how it operated day-to-day. She also wrote letters to the government and other organizations, looking for funding. “She was a very persistent person,” Laura says. “She was handwriting all these letters and mailing them out,” trying to receive as much information and resources as possible in hopes of opening and operating her own safe house in Huron County.
That persistence paid off. With support from the Anglican Diocese, June secured funding to purchase the first shelter building, a home on McDonald Street in Goderich. It was outfitted with a secure door and donated dishes, linens, and other basic household items.
Once the shelter was up and running, June didn’t hesitate to step in directly when women needed help. “She would go pick up the women and their kids at their homes to help them get out and bring them to the shelter. That was brave in itself,” Laura reflects. “You can imagine how many angry men she had to deal with. That took a lot of courage for her to do.”
The shelter officially opened on June 20, 1985 as Survival Through Friendship House—a milestone that transformed the landscape of safety and support for women in Huron County. But June didn’t stop there. She continued to raise funds, give talks, collect supplies, and advocate for more comprehensive support. Through fundraising and government support, the shelter was able to move to a new, purpose-built facility on Huron Road in 1993, where it continues to support women to this day.
One of her goals was to see the shelter’s Second Stage Program established—an option for women and children who cannot safely return home and need more than short-term emergency shelter. Although June passed before the program became a full reality, her tireless advocacy helped lay the foundation for what now includes over 20 secure residential units across Huron County. These longer-term housing options provide not only safety, but the time and support women need to rebuild trust, regain independence, and begin healing. The addition of this program has become a vital part of the shelter’s services—one that continues to reflect June’s understanding of what women impacted by gender-based violence truly need to move forward.
Today that vision continues to evolve.
Forty years later, the shelter has expanded its reach and capacity, offering hope and safety in times of crisis, through emergency shelter, second stage programming, transition assistance, counselling, children’s programming, and more. As the shelter celebrates this milestone anniversary, Laura hopes it continues to grow. “My grandma would be so happy to know services and help for these women have expanded over the years and how people have a better understanding of abuse in many forms.”
June Taylor’s legacy isn’t just the shelter—it’s the bravery, determination, and compassion she showed, and the generations she continues to inspire. Laura and her family are extremely proud of her. “She didn’t let her situation determine her outcome, she used her situation to try to help others,” Laura says. “There are so many lives she has positively impacted and saved.”
As the shelter marks forty years, the impact of June’s work endures—not just in the stories of those she helped, but in the continued efforts to ensure every woman has a place to turn when she needs it most.