Town council heard a plea for help last week, but it wasn’t help in the form of money. Representatives of the Creston and District Community Resource Centre (CRC) Society reported at the June 14 regular meeting that the organization is looking for a suitable downtown property to build a new facility.
CRC operates a couple of dozen social services, most on contract with the provincial government. It currently uses four different locations, including the second floor of the Family Practice medical clinic, Creston Education Centre, the day care on Canyon Street beside Prince Charles Secondary School and the school district-owned building in Kinsmen Park.
“To give you an idea of these diverse services, we provide early intervention services to children under the age of six,” said CRC executive director Serena Naeve. “This includes the First Steps infant/toddler daycare centre for children between the ages of zero and three, the Creston Valley Family Place, an infant development program, a pregnancy outreach program and a parenting support program.
“We also provide clinical treatment to children and youth under the age of 19 through the Child and Youth Mental Health program and counselling to women and children who are victims of violence and abuse. We provide treatment to men and support to adults with persistent mental illness in a group format. We also have outreach programming that supports youth in the community to make healthy choices regarding their individual needs and provide the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors.
“Last year, our services reached approximately 2,280 people from Creston and surrounding areas. In addition, we also hold two regional contracts and provided service to a total of 11,246 people in the East Kootenay region last year.”
Finance and administration manager Justine Keirn told council the CRC needs an 11,000-square-foot lot on which to construct a suitable building to hold the programs and administration offices.
“We have been looking at various properties for approximately two years and have yet to come up with a location and price that would work for the organization,” Naeve said. “We are hoping council will be able to help us or at least help us get the word out that we are looking.”