Airdrie residents can ring in the new year in style for a good cause.

The second annual New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball, hosted by Airdrie P.O.W.E.R. (Protecting Our Women with Emergency Resources), is being held at the Town and Country Centre Dec. 31.

According to Crystal Boys, president and founder of Airdrie P.O.W.E.R., the money raised from the event will go towards the organization’s goal to build a women’s shelter in Airdrie.

“It’s something that is desperately needed for women and children leaving abusive situations and it’s one step of many to help empower women to be independent and to be self-sufficient,” she said. “That was something that I noticed a couple years ago that Airdrie didn’t have and I wanted to change that.”

The organization started raising money for a shelter last year and has raised approximately $50,000, according to Boys. Its goal is $3.5 million.

“We’ve been more focused on, in this last year, awareness and education and getting all of our business licences up to where they need to be so we can start asking for the big dollars,” she said. “And we’re there now and so our capital campaign starts at the end of January 2018 and goes to the end of August – so that’s when we’ll be hitting the ground hard looking for funding.”

The Masquerade Ball will kick off at 7 p.m. and will run until 2 a.m. Tickets are $60 and include dinner, door prizes and a glass of champagne at midnight. There will also be a DJ playing all night and a silent auction for guests to browse.

“We wanted to have one signature event that was our main fundraising gala of the year and what we had noticed was that there wasn’t really a lot to do in town in Airdrie on New Year’s Eve where you were able to really get dressed up and ring in the new year,” she said. “We gave it a go last year and it was a great success for us so we’ve decided that that will be our event and we’ll be hosting it every New Year’s (Eve).”

Last year’s event attracted more than 100 people and Boys said more than 100 tickets have already sold for this year’s event. Tickets can be purchased until Dec. 30 through emailing airdriepower@gmail.com

“It’s Vegas style this year so we’ll have funny money casino and Elvis and another little bit of entertainment,” she said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Shuttle buses will also be available to drive people home at the end of the night, according to Boys.

“It’s an amazing event. It’s super fun. Everybody who attended last year has already repurchased tickets again for this year and then some,” she said. “You get to have a really fun, elegant night out ringing in the new year while supporting an amazing cause at the same time.”