Moncton women’s shelter seeks donations to complete new building reno

Crossroads Transition House in New Brunswick is looking for donations to complete necessary renovations on their new building that will help them keep up with increasing demand.

Crossroads is the busiest shelter in the province, and has housed more than 9,640 people since opening in 1981. Demand for its services continue to rise significantly each year.

READ MORE: Anonymous donation to provide homes for domestic violence victims

Running at full capacity for the last five years and unable to keep up, last year the organization was forced to turn away more than 60 per cent of the women and children seeking refuge from domestic violence in the community.

In December 2014, Crossroads for Women launched a Campaign to raise $2.5 million to purchase and renovate a property to provide a new, expanded shelter for the more than 400 women and children fleeing domestic violence and seeking refuge every year.

They’ve nearly reached their goal, and are now looking for donations to help them complete the project.

“We have 15 per cent left to raise — its $380,000 — we’ve got proposals out there and we’re really hoping to get some great answers but we still got a lot of work to do,” said Crossroads director, Tina Thibodeau.

Once completed, the new transition house will:

• Increase the number of available beds from 17 to 29, nearly doubling the shelter’s capacity.
• Provide dedicated counselling and intake rooms for receiving statements for police intervention
• Allow for space for confidential counselling
• Allow for increased length of stay for victims
• Provide space for a family lounge and library, health and multipurpose room, children’s rooms among other amenities, to make women and children feel safe and at home.

The organization is hoping to have the renovations completed by late October.

Donations to Crossroads can be made here.