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Photo by Curtis Galbraith.
By Curtis Galbraith
Community

New fundraiser underway for Sunrise House

Jul 20, 2023 | 5:38 PM

Grande Prairie’s Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter has launched a new fundraiser.

It is called Lock Out Youth Homelessness and sees people buy a lock for a minimum $25 donation. The locks are then added to a metal sculpture that looks like a sun. The whole thing will sit outside the new shelter once it is finished.

Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

Shelter board president Sean Doerkson says $5.5 million of the $6.5 million needed for the new shelter has been raised so far.

“This last piece is really just to get the community engaged and let people participate at whatever level they chose to participate.”

Doerkson says they also “have soma asks (for funding) out with some larger contributors.”

He hopes this effort will raise $100,000. Doerkson adds they expect to be in the new building that is currently being built close to the Great Northern Casino by the end of this year.

“The majority (of the work to be finished) is inside at this point. If you were to drive by the structure right now, it would look like it is almost complete with just some finishing needing to be done on the outside.”

“It’s currently being painted, finishing touches. There is still quite a bit to do as far as some of the safety features and things like that that need to be done.

Doerkson says as the community grows, so does the need for shelter space.

“The unfortunate part is that we find youth without a place to stay in the first place. Something somewhere has broken down in order for that to happen.”

“The thing that I think is very encouraging is the success that (executive director) Tanya (Wald) and her staff have had at the shelter in getting these youth back into their home, getting them off the street, getting them into a safe environment.”

Doerkson says the majority of the kids that come to the shelter are from Grande Prairie, but there are some that come from surrounding communities and even from other parts of the province. He says the shelter serves all of northern Alberta.

Kaymor Machining built the sun sculpture. Overhead Door and Brogan Fire & Safety supplied the locks. Fluid Pro sponsored the barbecue at the downtown Co-op Thursday afternoon where the launch took place. Besides hosting the launch, the Co-op bought the first lock for $1000.

by Curtis Galbraith