Women’s Resource Centre awaits verdict on extension
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/03/2012 (5336 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Women’s Resource Centre is still waiting to hear whether it will be granted a “compassionate extension” from The Town Centre after being given notice to move out.
“The staff remains very concerned,” WRC board member Jodi Wyman said. “We’re still in a holding pattern, and I’m not sure why it’s taking so long to find out if we can stay a little bit longer.”
At the beginning of the month, the resource centre was given 60 days notice to vacate or face a steep rent hike of potentially 10 times more than what they have been paying. They launched an appeal to The Town Centre to give the organization time to find a new home and seek additional funding.
Marlow Kirton, managing partner with The Town Centre, said a meeting is scheduled for Monday.
“What we’re trying to do is get together to talk through options,” Kirton said. “We’ve been communicating, just arranging a time for us all to get together … to come up with a real nice solution for everybody.”
The Women’s Resource Centre is a non-profit, charitable organization that provides counselling services for hundreds of women and children — many of whom are in crisis situations. Each month, an average of 500 women and children attend the centre for services like the daily breakfast program, domestic violence counselling, children’s counselling, free access to computers, assistance in job hunting, etc.
Petitions are circulating in the community to gain community support and potential funding for the resource centre.
Brandon University Students’ Union has a copy of the petition for students to sign in its office.
“Students have declared that (the Women’s Resource Centre) is extremely important,” BUSU president Deandra Tousignant said. “This is an essential service within our community. It’s providing supports for survivors of domestic violence, as well as women and children in the Westman area.”
The province provides roughly $80,000 of the resource centre’s $120,000 annual budget, which goes toward staffing. Other funds for the centre come from the United Way and community donations.
Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell will meet with the resource centre Friday “to talk about strategies moving forward to broaden the revenue base.”
Caldwell said a letter is before Status of Women Minister Jennifer Howard, requesting assistance.
» jaustin@brandonsun.com