Gateway Resources cut the ribbon on its new facility at 204 Main St. last week.
The complex will be home to Gateway’s Senior Activity Program on the main floor, while the second floor offers seven Supported Independent Living (SIL) apartment units.
“We are so excited for this building,” said CEO Kim Nelson. “It has been a dream for a very long time.”
The main floor offers the seniors program much more space than its old location in a renovated home on Salem Cres.
“So for the seniors program, it means that we are able to expand the services that we offer,” Nelson said. “Being able to have bathrooms that are really accessible and some offices and just a nice big open space and a beautiful yard to be able to utilize. It’s a purpose-built space.”
The program currently has about a dozen seniors with intellectual disabilities participating full or part-time, but there are many more Gateway participants getting to an age where they might wish to retire and move on to make the most of the program’s offerings.
“As we have an aging population, we have a lot of people that don’t want to work anymore but they don’t want to just be at home,” Nelson said. “So that’s what this space will enable.”
Senior activity manager Patrick Simoens noted they’ve been in their current space for several years, and while it has served them well, room to grow is most welcome. The program serves an important function in the Gateway system, he said.
“A typical day is filled with leisure activities and education themes, community activities. We like to take part in a lot of the activities that are happening at the Winkler Senior Centre as well,” Simoens said. “I think it’s really important for them to have an enriched life, just to be able to come and participate in a variety of activities and opportunities that otherwise they wouldn’t.”
Seniors program participant Patsy Wharff is excited to enjoy the new, larger space.
“We are very happy the way this turned out,” she said, sharing that participants even had a hand in helping to demolish the old house on the site. “We are all excited to do activities at our new home.”
Meanwhile, the apartment units upstairs will help Gateway make a dent in its ever-growing residential wait list.
“We are grateful that the supported independent living program is growing, but as every community is finding, there is just not enough apartments,” Nelson said. “This building will enable us to actually have people move out of maybe family homes or the situations that they’re currently in and into these apartments.”
SIL manager Mike Rose said that the program has grown from about dozen people to 38 in just the last five years. It provides individuals with the supports they need to succeed out on their own.
“It’s really having everyone have the experience of those that can live on their own with some support, be able to do so and to provide them the opportunity to live life that way,” Rose said. “They all have their own challenges and their own needs, and so they all have individualized support plans that support those needs.
“They’re all in their own apartments and living out in the community. Being able to have seven new spaces is huge for us.”
Nelson stressed this facility wouldn’t have been possible without the support Gateway received from the community.
“We see the support all the time, but when we do a project like this, we’re just so grateful.”
Photos by Ashleigh Viveiros/Voice
