The North East Outreach and Support Services has moved their administrative offices into the Melfort Mall so that their emergency receiving home for children can be moved into the domestic violence shelter.
“It was something that started early in March of this year when we realized that there was going to be an extension of services to our emergency receiving home and we realized that the facility that we are currently using for them was not up to the standards that we wanted it to be,” said Louise Schweitzer, North East Outreach’s executive director.
“We started to explore all kinds of possibilities to make that a better place for them and very quickly found that doing some renovations to our current beautiful new building would give them the best of services and a beautiful home that was safe and appropriate for the needs that they had.”
North East Outreach chose to celebrate the move of their office into the mall Dec. 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, a day that marks the anniversary of the murder of 14 women at Montréal’s École Polytechnique in 1989, as a way to honour and remember them.
The move centralizes the organization’s three programs: the shelter, the emergency receiving home, and educational and counseling outreach into a single building. That means North East Outreach only has to maintain one facility and that there’s always another trained person available if there’s an emergency in the shelter or receiving home.
Having the office a block away from the shelter won’t have any effect, as all of the computer and telephone systems are completely networked into each other and administration will be able to contact any of the staff with the press of a button.
Schweitzer said the move into the mall has another effect.
“I think it’s creating some awareness for our community. It’s removing some more of the stigma of domestic and sexualized violence. It’s putting it out there front and center,” she said, adding that if someone is dealing with violence that it’s not their fault and they have nothing to be ashamed of – it’s the person that’s doing it that should be ashamed.
The office is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and so if anybody needs information or help, they can arrange that. Schweitzer said for some people, it’s easier to go to the mall and get help there rather than make a special trip to the shelter.
As for the house where the emergency receiving home – and the administration offices before that – were located, it has been put up for sale.
“It will be something that North East Outreach is going to be getting rid of and using those funds in other projects that the board will be looking at in their strategic plan in March,” Schweitzer said.
Those that need help can call the North East Outreach crisis line at 1-800-611-6349.
