The current shelter in the Mountview neighbourhood has been in operation since 2003 (Photo: Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter)

By Liam Verster

Youth Emergency Shelter

Sunrise House Youth Shelter seeks capital support from County for new facility

Nov 18, 2019 | 4:25 PM

The Sunrise House Youth Shelter has asked the County of Grande Prairie for capital funding to support the building of a new facility.

The current Sunrise House Youth Shelter is a single house, with 12 beds in a single room for youth seeking support. Sunrise House plans on beginning construction on a new facility in May, and Executive Director, Tanya Wald, says the new one would be bigger, better, and have more amenities .

“One main piece is it will be accessible, so currently we are not wheelchair accessible, so the new facility will be fully accessible. In addition to that, increased safety and security pieces that we’re lacking right now, as well looking at additional programming space, and cultural space, things like that, that we just don’t have right now.”

The proposed facility would be three floors, with Administration and Programming operating from the basement, Emergency Shelter services and other programs running on the main floor, and Transitional Housing and rental accommodations on the top floor.

The estimated cost of building the new facility is $4-million, and the shelter is looking for ways to raise the money. Sunrise House runs fundraisers throughout the year, and while most of that money goes towards providing programs, some has also gone into a reserve fund for this project. The house where Sunrise House currently operates will also be sold, for close to $300,000, to help support the project, though it likely won’t be sold until after the new facility is ready, or until an alternative space has been found. Wald says they don’t want to have to close the shelter for any period of time.

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

Sunrise House has also received some very generous private donations. John and Jodie Neudorf have committed $1-million toward the project, and Peter Teichrob has supplied an acre of land for the new facility. The donated land is in the Southwest part of the City of Grande Prairie, and is part of a brand-new residential development that includes multi and single family dwellings, and small commercial and retail developments. The property is also close to transit services, and other supports and services the youth may need.

Along with approaching the County, Sunrise House has also asked the City for money, and will be asking the MD of Greenview for capital support next. Each of these asks are for $500,000, over the course of one or two years. Having the support of the communities would allow Sunrise House to build the new facility without accumulating any debt, allowing the shelter to go forward with other programs and services, rather than having to pay a mortgage.

Sunrise House’s stats show that annually, about 15 percent of the youth served at the shelter are from the County, 10 percent are from the MD of Greenview, and the remainder from the City or other jurisdictions.

However, President of Sunrise’s Board, Richard Vanderzee, says though County Council asked about the stats of where these youth are coming from, it shouldn’t matter, all that should matter is that they are youth in need of supports.

“How much value do you put on the life of a youth? So as partners, all of us, should be involved together to support that. Adult homelessness is directly correlated to youth homelessness , so what we’re doing is basically is preventative maintenance for the future, for the whole region. So hopefully everybody joins together and this is not a ‘I’m only going to give you this percentage because we only have this many percentage kids.’ They’re children, let’s look after them.”

County Council heard the proposal from Sunrise House on Monday, November 18. They will take the request into consideration, and decide how much funding they can supply at a later date.