Streets Alive Mission, a non-profit organization located in Lethbridge, has expanded its supportive housing for women after having limited space for several years.
A newly-renovated home — the location of which is undisclosed for the safety of its residents — officially opened in December.
Julie Kissick, co-founder of Streets Alive, said they outlined the need for a safe space to help women get back on their feet after suffering from addictions or other setbacks.
“I have seen so many women with no where to go,” she explained. “They’ve gone into treatment, they have no where to go. They’ve come out of prison, there’s no where to go.”
In comes the Segue Women’s Home, made possible by donations from the community.
Kissick says their main donor provided $1 million to buy the property and another $250,000 for renovations. Donor contributions are represented through a collection of decorative butterflies displayed on the living room wall.
Previously, a different location housed the program for about eight years, but was limited in space.
“We have it on the plans for 17 women,” Kissick said of the new location. “We have permission from the city to go up to 20. The benefit of this location is the size — before, we were restricted to five (residents).”
Kissick says those who stay in the home partake in a variety of treatment and recovery programs, as well as volunteerism, and all have household duties to take care of.
She adds they are not a shelter, but a home.
“All of these are just important to helping them discover a different life rather than drugs and alcohol.”
Patty Auer, who now runs the Genesis Connect for Women through Streets Alive Mission, was once in the shoes of the residents — struggling with addiction herself.
“In the five and half years of my sobriety, when I started working at (Streets Alive) and living in this house (is) when my life changed,” Auer said.
Auer says having a safe, welcoming space helped her turn her life around. Now, she is grateful to be able to give back in the same way.
“We’re not bad people, we don’t cause trouble,” she said. “We want to be who we were meant to be as women.
“Who I was (six) years ago, she doesn’t exist anymore.”
Kissick says the Segue Women’s Home has three phases, with increased levels of independence with each. Once the individual is ready to leave, they depart the home, making room for more residents.
“We filled up to the number that we wanted to be at fairly quickly,” she said. “Now we’re looking to grow into the numbers we have now, and then within a couple months we’ll expand to increase our numbers.”
Streets Alive Mission has been open for more than 30 years.