Burrows Resource Centre closes due to money shortage

Time is running out for the Burrows Resource Centre, which provided a safe haven for children in Winnipeg's North End until it shut down last week.

The Burrows Central Residents Council, which operated the centre, made the difficult decision to close after it failed to raise the $5,000 needed to keep the volunteer-run facility open.

"I can't tell you how bad that felt," Irene McConachy, the council's chair, told CBC News on Wednesday.

The council has launched a fundraising campaign online, hoping to raise $5,000 by the end of March in order to keep the centre open for at least another three months.

McConachy said about 200 children have used the Burrows Resource Centre over the past two years. It provided a safe place for young people in the neighbourhood to hang out, she said.

But since the Burrows Resource Centre is not considered to be a community centre or a charitable organization, it is not eligible for most municipal or provincial government grants.

"These people are not qualified for that because they are not part of the community centres," Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie told reporters.

"If we could find $5,000 with the city, I think that's great and I would support it wholeheartedly," he added.

'We should be able to do something'

Deputy mayor Justin Swandel said he will see what the city can do to help the centre.

"We're talking about a reasonably small amount of money. We should be able to do something," Swandel told CBC News.

While the centre does receive some funding from the city and province for two programs, McConachy said it needs between $18,000 and $20,000 annually for operating and overhead costs.

McConachy said over the past 1½ years, she and her late husband have given thousands of dollars of their own money to keep the Burrows Resource Centre open.

"You know what? I never ever really did count it. It was just whatever was needed to keep the centre open," she said.

Michael Champagne, who grew up in the area, said he fears children will lose the resource centre's positive influence.

"Young people can go [to] a safe place and understand that they can make positive choices for their life, as opposed to going and hanging out in that crack shack, and going and joining that gang," he said.

"The city should be the ones jumping through hoops, the governments and funders should be the ones jumping through hoops to find how they can support the work that is already going on."