Popular Summerside youth centre eyeing expansion

A busy youth centre and indoor skate park in Summerside, P.E.I., is getting the wheels turning on a capital campaign to improve its building. 

"Basically we're running out of room," said Gordie Whitlock, the general manger of Generation XX. 

According to Whitlock, in the 20 years the organization has been running, it has seen its membership balloon from 20 kids to around 400 members plus drops ins.

He said in order to grow, Generation XX needs to expand its existing facility.

Recently the organization hired a consulting firm to conduct a study on renovating the facilities. It came up with a $1.5 million plan and some big ideas. 

"We're going to put a second storey over the skate park, which will house a number of things, one being a gym, a gymnasium, as well as some craft rooms and other things like that," Whitlock said. 

"The biggest part of it was the accessibility, because currently the building is not totally accessible for all the kids," he said.

Updating the building to make it fully accessible will involve adding features such as elevators.There will also be upgrades required to keep the old building running. 

"We've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the building over the last 20 years just trying to stay ahead of it, if you will," Whitlock said. "But it is definitely in need of some renovations, some facelifts, some electrical upgrades, some lighting upgrades, some heating upgrades, cooling upgrades."

Kids hope to keep it around 

For the area kids who use the centre, the idea of updating the building and maintaining its longevity long into the future means a lot.

"It's always been a place of welcome security," said Logan Maddix, who is a Generation XX youth board member. "Anytime I had an issue, it was never a problem for me to go and speak with either one of the other youth or Gordie."

Maddix said the more room the centre has for programs, the better.

There's no hub for youth in Summerside. This is that hub.— Logan Maddix

"I definitely want to see all sorts of programs come out of this place, because I think it's something that's lacking in Summerside," he said. "There's no hub for youth in Summerside. This is that hub."

Victoria Cahill agrees. She also sits on the youth board and has been coming to the centre for eight years. 

"They're like a second family," she said. "It's somewhere I can come to escape anything, any troubles . . . and I know my family is going to be there for me." 

She said she'd like to see the skate park expanded to make the centre more inviting to more kids. 

"I noticed that a lot of the kids are talking about the skate park, and I'm thinking that we should expand on bringing like a bowl in, and more places to skate  . . .  and expanding the park so that more people can come in, because we have a lot of people coming from outer P.E.I.," she said.

Kids will have a say

Generation XX has asked the city of Summerside for an extra $15,000 this year in addition to its regular community grant of $30,000. It has also been in touch with both the federal and provincial governments to ask for funding and will soon be going to the community and businesses to raise the funds. 

Whitlock said the idea of the expansion is to continue helping local youth.

"We want to put a survival centre together where throughout the day we might be able to assist kids that are having some trouble with homelessness and other things," he said. "You know, resume help, finding unemployment, [a] place to clean their clothes, shower."

But, he added, the organization doesn't make any decisions without seeking feedback from the kids. Whitlock said that will dictate the type of programs the centre is able to offer in the future. 

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