A symbolic cheque presentation to recognize the city’s contribution to the new Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter took place at the February 26 meeting of Grande Prairie city council. Pictured (L to R): Councillors Chris Thiessen, Dylan Bressey and Mike O’Connor, Mayor Jackie Clayton, Sunrise House executive director Tanya Wald, and Councillors Wendy Bosch and Kevin O’Toole.

By Curtis Galbraith

Community

Move to new Sunrise House went “incredibly well” says shelter executive director

Feb 27, 2024 | 4:18 PM

Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter Executive Director Tanya Wald says the recent move to a new facility went “incredibly well.”

“For a move of that calibre, the move went really well. We had lots of volunteers that showed up in groups with trucks and trailers. We packed up and we moved buildings.”

Wald says one day, they had 15 people show up to help.

She adds the move was completed on December 22…

“(We) moved in just in time for Christmas, which was really important for us. We had really high numbers at Christmas and to get them into that new space was really special.”

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Wald says the entire move took about a week.

“We did get new beds and a lot of new furniture, but we moved over all of our donations, so all of our toiletries, hygiene, all of our clothing donations and then, of course, many files because we keep files on all our young people.”

Wald says they tried to make the move easier for the kids in the shelter.

“They understood why and what was happening, so they were good. Certainly, some were a bit anxious, like they’re so used to this house, and this was their safe place to be and now, all of a sudden, they’re going to a new one. Some of them were a bit nervous about it.”

“Once we got over there and they were able to see the space and how we kept this very home-like space, they were really happy to be there.”

Wald says 12 to 15 of the shelter spots are occupied currently, along with five of the new shelter’s 11 housing units.

She adds out of the $6.5 million needed for the new shelter, there is about $500,000 left to collect.

There was a symbolic cheque presentation at the February 26 meeting of city council (pictured) to mark the city’s contribution to the project.

The city gave a total of $939,556.57 to the new shelter. A half-million of that was cash and gift-in-kind for things like development permits. The rest of that amount represents the land.