By Sarah Osborne
Operation Go Home, an organization that helps street youth reunite with their families, finally has a new home at 176 Rideau St., but will have to raise $100,000 just to pay the rent and renovate.
Operation Go Home moved into their old space adjacent to the Rideau Centre in 1986. But more than a year and a half ago, the management of the Rideau Centre decided to use the space for a retail expansion.
“We had been looking around for a while,” says Lesley Greene, director of communication and public relations for Operation Go Home. Location was important, Greene says, because the centre needs to be close at hand for the youth it serves. A real estate agent eventually found a person looking to rent out the new space.
Operation Go Home signed the lease in December, with only a month to spare before the move date.
The centre’s office at the Rideau Centre officially closed on Jan. 24. It will reopen at the new space Jan. 31.
Operation Go Home has to pay rent now, something it has never had to do before.
Rent at the new location costs $5,800 a month now — $69,600 a year the centre never had to pay.
“That’s going to require a lot of fund-raising and donations and money. It’s going to be a big change,” says Greene.
The centre has planned a fund-raising drive for February. The goal is to have 100 people or businesses raise $1,000 each. Greene says the money will be put towards the rent, and in the future it may be possible to renovate the centre’s space.
The new location is very different from the current location, says Greene. It is bigger, for one, which means the centre will have more office space and more space dedicated to the youth.
She says they hope to expand the clothing room, which is especially important in winter, and the Youth Alternative Centre, which has a variety of services such as employment resources, computers, crisis and suicide intervention, and a breakfast program.
Moving also gives the centre the chance to make other changes.
“It’s a good opportunity to clean house… It’s good: It’s a challenge and an opportunity,” says Kim Chadsey, executive director of Operation Go Home.
She says the move also comes at a time when the centre is growing.
When Chadsey started working at the centre more than four years ago, it only had two full-time employees.
The centre now has eight full-time employees.
Chadsey is confident street youth will be able to find the new location, since youth who use the centre were around while staff was packing.
Word of mouth, and signs posted at the old and new office, will inform the remaining youth about the move, she says.
Greene says the new location is ideal because it is close to shelters and other youth service centres.
“It’s fabulous,” Greene says.