After 13 years in the same space with limited funds for renovations, the St. Albert Youth Community Centre (YCC) is finally getting a much-needed overhaul with the help of the province.
MLA Ken Allred handed over a $44,669 cheque on Friday.
Those dollars will go towards the more than $77,000-project, with the remainder being paid by fundraising, the centre providing some funds of its own, volunteer hours and in-kind services.
The youth centre's flooring, washroom and concession areas will benefit from the makeover.
Executive director Brenda O'Neill said the government funding was crucial.
"No money, no deal. This is a not-for-profit [organization]," she said.
The youth centre applied for the money in 2010 through Alberta's Community Initiatives Program.
O'Neill said programming at the centre will not be affected while the work is being done – it will all take place at the same time, with a little bit of moving around within the building.
"Because we need to keep the centre open, it will probably take a little bit longer than we'd normally like. My guess is three weeks to 30 days, somewhere in there," she said.
Right now it is unknown exactly when renovations will begin. Flooring is the first priority, with 9,000 sq. ft. to be replaced. Then the work will move on to other areas.
"We have ladies and men or boys and girls washrooms that need upgrading badly and then we also have the concession — it is 13 years old, and the doors are falling off the cabinets," said O'Neill. "It's really, really tired and really needs some TLC."
She said the kids who frequent the centre love it no matter what, but she expects they will be happy with the new look after the work is done.
Council bumps up rent money
On Monday city council agreed to give the youth centre an extra $8,000 so the group could pay its rent.
Coun. Len Bracko wanted to provide the organization with $26,000 to make up for a funding reduction that passed during the 2011 budget deliberations. However, Mayor Nolan Crouse successfully pushed for the increase to be limited to $8,000 because this would raise the city's contribution to $96,000, the amount of the group's annual lease costs.
"We tried to maintain at budget that the principal was paying lease costs," Crouse said.
