Victim Services Toronto (VST) is expanding its Ask For Angela safety initiative as the city prepares to welcome more than 300,000 World Cup soccer fans this summer.The program, which originated in the UK and was first introduced in the GTA in the fall of 2023, allows people experiencing gender-based violence or exploitation to discreetly signal for help at partnering locations using the code phrase: “Is Angela here?”With a huge influx of visitors expected this summer for World Cup soccer, VST CEO Carly Kalish believes this is the right time to expand the program, noting that major sporting events often coincide with increased reports of gender-based violence.“In Toronto, police already record 17,000 to 19,000 intimate partner violence occurrences in the average year, with recent data showing a double‑digit year‑over‑year increase in reports despite chronic underreporting,” Kalish said in a release.“This summer’s influx of visitors and the expected vulnerabilities that come with it create an urgent need for Ask for Angela’s increased presence across Toronto, while also presenting a long-term, infrastructure-building opportunity to make pathways to help more consistently available, convenient, and approachable.”The expansion will see VST introduce new strategic community partnerships and launch Ask for Angela’s first-ever out-of-home (OOH) campaign.The Ask for Angela program is currently embedded in hundreds of Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills and Fortinos retail spaces, with thousands of frontline staff trained to respond to the code phrase and connect individuals with professional support services. The expansion will include “new, strategic local partnerships across retail, hospitality, healthcare, transit, emergency response, and tourism” and “will provide program training to 8,000 additional frontline staff and volunteers, expanding direct pathways to crisis support in everyday spaces across Toronto. New partners include:CN TowerCourtyard by Marriott Toronto DowntownDelta Hotels by Marriott Toronto Airport & Conference CentreHilton TorontoSheraton Centre Toronto HotelSunnybrook Health Sciences CentreThe PrEP Clinic / The Ontario Prevention Clinic and PharmacyToronto Paramedic ServicesThe expansion will also include VST’s first-ever Ask for Angela OOH campaign, a discreet campaign that “will disguise posters (pictured below) as traditional product advertisements, leveraging QR codes and a new dedicated website to increase program accessibility in high-traffic, public-facing spaces such as transit hubs, while delivering 64 million brand impressions.”Ask for Angela is a safety initiative that helps people experiencing violence discreetly ask for help.“The city’s upcoming (World Cup) tournament has created real momentum for our work,” Kalish added. “We’re using this moment to bolster the presence, awareness, and reach of Ask for Angela and the network of partners behind it – transforming it from a standalone campaign into a scalable, city-wide safety network that will be able to serve Toronto long after this summer ends.”Kalish told CityNews that just last week a woman used the phrase at a local Shoppers Drug Mart and was able to find lasting help.“Because the individual shared that she didn’t have a phone and she would have otherwise not been able to reach out for services, we responded on scene … we met her at that store, we provided her immediate access to support, found her a shelter bed in Toronto and she remains connected to support today.”