After opening their doors back in July of 2014, Stemete7uw’i Gathering Place Friendship Centre in 100 Mile House will be closing it;s doors for good this Monday (September 30).
Manager Murray Casey said having run out of funding they are no longer able to continue serving their clients which can be from 20 to 30 people coming through their doors everyday.
“We have just depended on grants and weren’t able to receive any for our day to day operation. Most of the grants out there right now are mostly for programming and didn’t really benefit the Centre at this point we just needed funding.”
Having run out of funding they are no longer able to continue serving their clients which can be from 20 to 30 people coming through their doors everyday.
“People were looking for jackets, we always had free jackets for them so that’s going to be a loss to a lot of people. And our lunch program and our coffees we offer. People are always looking for something. Even if you’re struggling in life sometimes just a coffee and a tea and a visit is all person really needs and that’s what they are really going to miss I think.”
Once their doors are closed he noted they will have to go to other organizations in 100 Mile House.
“They’ll have to find other opportunities that are out there. There’s not many especially for our little town. They have a soup kitchen once a week but even that is not a lot so they’ll have to find other places to go and hopefully, hopefully, we can find some other way to get out there and do something similar but it won’t be the same as having a stand alone building.”
Murray noted that do still have a grant with Telus that they could get up to $100,000 for.
“That would get us back into a location. The place we were in our lease run out so we decided it was best not to renew it at this point if we didn’t have funding to keep paying rent for another year. Another thing we’re thinking about is trying to find a little van to provide coffee, specially in the winter time and hand out gloves and socks. That’s something that’s in the works and hopefully something we could continue to do.”
He added those who come to the Centre had an idea that this was coming.
“We had a lady stop by the other day and she said it’s so sad to see that you guys are leaving and the comments we’re getting on our Facebook page people are disappointed to see that we have to leave but obviously it’s a decision we had to make at this point.”
Murray thanks the community for the past ten years and hopes they’ll be back in some capacity in the future.
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