Tenille Townes and performers from Big Hearts for Big Kids get a tour of Sunrise House Saturday from Executive Director Tanya Wald. (Photo credit: Facebook/Tenille Townes)

By Emily Keller

SUNRISE HOUSE YOUTH EMERGENCY SHELTER

Sunrise House youth emergency shelter announces plans for new location

Sep 16, 2019 | 1:00 PM

The Sunrise House youth emergency shelter has plans for a new building.

Over the weekend, Tenille Townes returned to Grande Prairie for her 10th annual Big Hearts for Big Kids fundraiser, where plans for a new shelter were announced.

“We just got a very massive donation and a green light to be able to move forward to a new building of sorts thanks to John and Jodie Neudorf with NTL Pipelines,” Townes announced Saturday. “And the piece of land – that was donated by Mr. Peter Teichroeb and the Happy Trails family.”

$415,000 was raised at the Big Hearts for Big Kids fundraiser on Saturday night, and the money will go towards operational costs for the new shelter. Additional funds will continue to be raised through Children Services, surrounding municipalities and community support.

Charity Neilson, Program Manager with the Sunrise House, says the new location will potentially be closer to the west side of the city, and that they have started the necessary steps for the new shelter.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

“Right now, we have been working to have drawings done up, and the business plan is almost completed, and it’ll be a youth shelter with hopefully some transitional apartments, and then some more recreational youth space as well.”

Right now, the Sunrise House has beds for 12 kids, and they often reach capacity. Neilson says an increase in the need for more room is what prompted the new location.

“Unfortunately with the needs of youth, we’re seeing them increasing and not decreasing, so to continue providing the level of care that we want to be providing the youth that we serve, we just needed more space for safety and just better care planning for the youth.”

She says the new shelter will replace the current one, and that hopefully they will have 24 beds instead of 12.

“We might not potentially open all beds when we first move into the new building, but we will definitely have that for future growth,” Neilson said.

Currently, there is no timeline set for the new location, but Neilson says there will be more information coming out in the upcoming weeks.