Youth centre once again up and running
More than a year after a sewer water flood wreaked havoc at the Rainbow Youth Centre, renovations are finally complete and programs are able to run at full capacity again.
“The youth care program that operates on the gym floor moved into a group room, but they weren’t operating at capacity for the time that they were in that space because it just isn’t big enough to do what they do,” said executive director Shelly Christian.
The program was running at 25 per cent capacity over the past year. Christian said many youths stopped coming as a result.
“It’s disappointing,” she said. “You worry. If they use our services for food every day, what are they doing now?”
She said as a place that offered support and a safe space, they were often left wondering if the young people who stopped coming were OK.
The flood affected the 5,000 square-foot basement area, which housed a gym, fitness equipment, the commercial kitchen, laundry room, game room, washroom and a lounging area with couches and computers.
It was a place where youths between the ages of 11 and 19 would go after school to hang out in a safe, supervised environment.
Thanks to a series of generous donations, they can do so again without turning anyone away.
“The word I think would be relief,” Christian said about how she and the staff are feeling now that the centre is back to normal.
She said without the donations, she doesn’t know how they would have managed.
Several organizations, including the Regina Labour Council, Direct West, Farm Credit, Winmar and Mosaic made donations ranging from a $1,000 to $10,000. A GoFundMe campaign raised just over $3,400 and an anonymous donation of $130,000 was made at the end of June.
Last year’s flood wasn’t the first, so the organization took precautions this time around to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“We ended up putting in a lift station that didn’t exist before,” said Christian.
A lift station is designed to move waste water from lower to higher elevation and protect against backpressure sewage. It is part of the reason renovations took almost twice as long as was expected.
“The process was smooth, however, there were several people involved, like engineers and the board and just making sure that we made the right decision,” said Christian.
She said staff are relieved this chapter of the centre’s life has come to a close, for the sake of the kids and their noses.
“They dealt with it very well, but they’re very happy to have that space back and not have to look at a large hole in the floor or smell sewer.”