140 people register to learn more about plans for future of centre
The Gordon Howard Centre is a membership-based, multi-use centre in Selkirk that provides services to, not just residents in the city, but people from the RM of St. Andrews, and the RM of St. Clements. They host many group activities including classes, clubs, and workshops. In 2022, the centre’s board put together a building committee to look at the various options they might have for improving or moving the centre. Last week, 140 people from our communities came to the centre to learn about the progress of the committee so far.
Shirley Muir, on behalf of the building committee, walked residents through the meeting’s presentations. She started by tempering expectations as this meeting was not meant to be an announcement but an update for the community.
“The purpose of this meeting is to bring you up to speed on what’s happened in the last year. We’re going to talk about the results of the meeting that we held here in June [of 2023]. Many of you were here in June, and we’re going to talk about what we learned at that meeting and the results and then what this building committee has been doing in the last year,” she said.
Muir explained that the purpose of the previous meeting was to connect and improve communications with Gordon Howard members and the entire community about the future of the active living center. It was also meant to help guide the building committee towards a direction for this project.
That meeting saw 100 people in attendance, of which half were from the community and half were members of the Gordon Howard Centre, which Muir explained was an exceptional turnout.
For context, Muir then explained the history of active living centres in our region. In the 1970s older adults in our region met up at local churches but accessibility at the time was an issue. Then, in the 1980s, with the help of our local Rotary Club, they went into a building at Vaughn and Jemima. From there, in 1992, the Gordon Howard Centre moved into its current location.
Muir explained that this history is important because decisions about this centre are not just being made for current community members but for the people who come after us.
“When we gathered a year ago, this was the question, ‘If we could create the best center for aging adults in Manitoba, what would it look like, what would it do, and who would it serve?’,” said Muir.
From that meeting, 39 ideas came forth and from those ideas votes were taken, discussions were had, and worksheets were filled out.
Muir also explained that many of the ideas were somewhat similar so they then organized those ideas into themes. They found the themes to be, in order of representation:
- Multipurpose and flexible
- Financial stability and flexible
- Programming and integration
- Physically accessible and ability-inclusive
- Central location
- Communication and modernizing the office
- Housing
- Staying where we are
“The building committee took all of that information that you shared, and they’ve been going through some steps,” said Muir.
She explained that they haven’t made any commitments yet.
Muir then addressed some of the more frequent questions that the building committee is getting.
She said that there have been questions about incorporating senior housing into the project but that the current building committee is not recommending the Gordon Howard become a landlord because it’s not in accordance with the centre’s mission.
Questions about whether the Gordon Howard Centre will remain on the same site were addressed with Muir explaining that it’s uncertain at this time.
She also explained that no one has put an offer on the current site and that though the idea of selling the site has been brought to the building committee that path is also unknown.
The final question that the committee has been getting is how long is this going to take. Muir said that this is unclear because costs and funding sources are not clear. Muir said at the beginning of the meeting, this project is in its very beginning stages.
Muir did also bring up that an important thought was voiced in the previous year’s meeting. That idea was that a new building isn’t needed to make many of the suggested changes.
“There are three important things that the Gordon Howard Centre needs help with immediately,” said Muir.
The three ways that residents can give back to this local group are – being part of their communications committee which includes helping with ideas to modernize their office, signing up as part of their fundraising committee because they know that financial stability is important to residents, and signing up as a member.
“If you’re not yet a member, for $30, you can become a member today,” said Muir.
The meeting ended with a short question and answer session and a thank you to everyone who came out to learn more.
