Youth Haven, Barrie Purchases New Location

What: Youth Haven, Barrie to open new facility

When: June, 2009

Where: 20-22 Wellington Street East

Youth Haven, Barrie is proud to announce the approval from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for the purchase of a larger facility at 20-22 Wellington Street East. This location will be used as a larger facility to meet the growing demands for a larger youth shelter in Simcoe County. As the sole youth shelter for teens between the ages of 16-21 in all of Simcoe County, we have experienced a significant increase in the number of youth accessing our services every year for the past three years. In 2005, we helped over 300 homeless and abused teens with emergency and transitional shelter and in 2006 we helped over 400 teens; in 2008 we have already provided over 500 homeless and abused teens with the integral supports that they need in order to become independent members in our society. This influx of needy teens has meant that for the past two years Youth Haven has operated over capacity, forced to turn away at least 5 pleas a night for beds due to lack of space.

Thankfully, after a two year application process, Youth Haven received approval for the purchase of the new location and officially closed the deal on the new location February 12th, 2009. With 11 bedrooms and large kitchen, storage and office space, the new location will allow us to house 20 youth a night with the space needed to meet the growing needs of the youth in our community. Officially scheduled to open in June, 2009, Youth Haven will host a grand opening ceremony to celebrate our new journey. Representatives from CMHC, the Provincial and Federal government and our major sponsors will be in attendance to show their support of our home.

We truly appreciate the support of our community members, church groups and service clubs throughout this process and invite you all to visit our new location in June. We would appreciate any gently used furniture donations or monetary support to help prepare our home for our official opening in July.

For more information, please contact:
Denise Ummels
Executive Director
(705) 739-7616
denise.ummels@youthhavenbarrie.com