Thanks to YOU, Gems for Gems has issued another FULL Scholarship!

Due to the kindness and endless support of the Gems for Gems Board and Ambassador Team, our organization is thrilled to award the Gems for Gems Celeste Yawney Memorial Scholarship to the incredibly deserving, Heather Mason.

Heather is a survivor in every sense of the word. She has been through many forms of domestic abuse and has escaped not only with her life but with a fire inside of her and determination to create the life she knows she, and her children deserve.

Gems for Gems is awarding this amazing woman with a full Scholarship to the Esthetic Institute. They have partnered with Gems to maximize your contributions and impact!

“This scholarship and the experience of the application process has changed my life forever. After so many broken years the pieces have lovingly been handed back by all who were involved making this dream come true. In my darkest days, I would never have believed I would be showing up to my life this strong, this confidence and this excited for a new day. To everyone at Gems for Gems and to Celeste’s family I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for your love, compassion, support, nonjudgement, confidence, and respect.

To Celeste Yawney I carry you in my heart and I know you are here with me, walking beside me on the path that you were tragically denied. Thank you for your guidance and protection from above that brought me to this place. I will honour this gift every day and make you proud.”

-Heather Manson (Scholarship Recipient)

Thank you to the Gems for Gems Board, the Gems for Gems Ambassador Team, the Gems for Gems Scholarship Selection Team, and to everyone who has support Gems for Gems through social media, donations of all kinds, fundraisers and through just being there how, when and where you can!

We are so grateful and want you to know that we recognize that none of this would be possible without you….

Thank you so much.

Gems for Gems

PLEASE CONTINUE TO SCROLL TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CELESTE YAWNEY SCHOLARSHIP, WHO SHE WAS AND HER CASE.

The Gems for Gems Celeste Yawney Memorial Scholarship

Celeste Yawney was brutally taken from her two boys, loving family and a community that adored her in 2015 due to domestic abuse reaching its pinnacle when Duran Redwood ended her life.

“I’d love to tell you about Celeste….

She was a big bright shining light. She loved everyone, even those who were harder to love… You know, we joked that if we had one chair with a sign saying FOR CELESTE’S BEST FRIEND so many people would have assumed it was for them! She was well known and well-loved.

Celeste had a strong personality. She was likely the strongest person that anyone who knew her had ever met. He just beat and manipulated it out of her…

We need people to understand this because we watched and were confused. We begged her to leave and we didn’t understand how complicated it was inside of her because of the abuse.

She started dating him (Redwood) just before our Dad died which was a time when Celeste struggled so much. He got in because of how vulnerable she was. She was the type of person no one could ever have imagined would be in a relationship like that, but domestic abuse can get anyone. We have learned that we want other people to understand that too.

In the end, she had regained her strength and was ready to leave. But this is how it goes so often. The victim leaves, the abuser loses control and that’s when… this happens.

Celeste was a phenomenal mother, sister, daughter, and friend. She was human, but an incredible one. She would have absolutely loved that her memory is connected to helping another woman succeed and live a life free of abuse. I think this is amazing and my family and I are just so grateful.”

-Janine Yawney Pereira (Celeste’s sister)

Gems for Gems is honored and humbled to contribute to this incredible woman’s legacy. She stood for strength, love and believed that everyone should know someone has their back.

We could not be more pleased to align ourselves to Celeste, her boys, her family and the community around her.

 “My family and I just want you to know how incredibly grateful we are that Gems for Gems exists.

You are providing an actual way, a practical way, forward for women to keep themselves and their children out of abuse.

We are so grateful that you are doing this and helping keep others from ending up like Celeste and our family.

Thank you so much. We are so grateful. We all (our family) want you to know that.”

-Janine Yawney Pereira (Celeste’s sister)

For more information on Celeste Yawney’s case please click the link below:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-redwood-murder-trial-pathologist-1.4991857

****This Scholarship has been made possible by TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, The Esthetic Institute and Gems for Gems