Regina’s Carmichael Outreach in need of funding and new temporary location

Carmichael Outreach is known for providing Regina’s homeless population with much needed services, but now the organization is finding itself in need of help.

“Our vision overall is to see the end of poverty and homelessness in our community,” Rochelle Berenyi with Carmichael Outreach said.

But it’s been a bumpy road for the non-profit ever since it sold its original building.

“We used to be in a space that was just too small,” Berenyi said. “There wasn’t enough room for staff, for the people coming in to Carmichael, or for anyone to really do what they needed to do.”

After purchasing a new building on 12th Avenue, the organization had planned to move in once renovations were complete, but renovations have yet to start due to a lack of funding.

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“It’s basically just gutted, it’s a blank slate essentially,” Berenyi said. “So everything imaginable that could be done needs to be done.”

With a goal of $450,000 the project is basically at a standstill, as fundraising has not gone as well as hoped.

“I believe that we still need between $410,000 and $450,000 still,” Berenyi explained.

Originally the building was supposed to be open this past fall but was pushed back to this spring. Now it’s been pushed back again to next fall.

“Basically at this point it’s just finding those partners and donors as well as some of the fundraising events that we have planned coming up,” Berenyi said.

In the meantime, the charity has been operating out of a temporary space which is only available until the end of March, leaving the organization with less than two months to find a new temporary location.

“It’s difficult to find somewhere with a kitchen that’s also in the neighbourhood that we want,” Berenyi said. “We want to stick somewhere near the Heritage area where our old building was and our new building is, or near downtown because that’s the primary area of where our people come from.”

But if a new space can’t be found, that’s not something Berenyi wants to think about.

“If we don’t have a space to go, then everyone who comes here doesn’t have a space to go,” she said.