Westminster House is inviting community members to check out its newest recovery facility for women.
The Westminster House Society is hosting an open house at 611 Queens Ave. on Wednesday, June 8 from noon to 2 p.m. At 1:30 p.m., B.C.’s Mental Health and Addiction Minister Sheila Malcolmson will cut the ribbon at a ceremony to signify the facility's opening.
"Without the support from Reaching Home, Lu' Ma and the team at Vancity Community Foundation, WHS would not have been able to undertake this initiative," said Scott Emerson, Westminster House Society board president, in a news release "Their contributions will translate into helping hundreds more women achieve sustainable recovery."
Westminster House said its initiative to build 10 new transitional supportive recovery beds aimed at helping women successfully transition from addiction treatment to housing – and to prevent relapse and subsequent homelessness – would not have been possible without the generous support of its partners.
The project was funded in part by the Government of Canada's Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy and administered locally by Lu'ma Native BCH Housing Society, the Community Entity for the Greater Vancouver designated region, in partnership with Vancity Community Foundation and endorsed by the Greater Vancouver Community Advisory Board.
“Contributions totalling $514,467 over two years were used to help the society purchase and renovate a property,” said the society’s news release. “The renovation improvements to the facility included updating the electrical, repairing the exterior foundations, and renovating and restoring the 1908 heritage house in New Westminster.”
Based in New West, Westminster House Society is a non-profit that’s offered addiction recovery services for youth girls, adult women and their families for more than 40 years.
