THE paint is still fresh on the walls and the boxes are till being unpacked, but that won't stop the Harvest Project from celebrating its new home.
The North Shore non-profit will swing open the doors of its newly renovated, 8,000-square-foot facility at 1073 Roosevelt Crescent, just south of Marine Drive in North Vancouver, on Tuesday after six months of renovations.
"It's like moving your house in after a massive renovation that you've lived through, and then welcoming hundreds of your friends and relatives the next day," said Kevin Lee, development officer at the Harvest Project, which provides counselling, groceries, food and help to North Shore residents experiencing a crisis.
The new facility is 2,000 square feet larger than the organization's former facility on Bewicke Avenue, but it didn't start out that way.
When the Harvest Project began renting the space, it was a 4,000-square-foot warehouse with a few small offices at the front, kind of like a "shoebox" in Lee's words. Throughout the last six months, workers, employees and volunteers have built a second floor and renovated the industrial space to suit service needs.
They had originally hoped to move in by the summer, but that was delayed just due to the complexity of the project, said Lee. Still, he said, it's worth it, as the new space is far better suited to what's needed and will save operating costs.
"In the new space, more than half of the space is absolutely focused on client care and on meeting space, so it's designed for the clients that we are seeing coming to meet with us," said Lee.
They will look into options for expanding services as well, he added, emphasizing that they won't duplicate existing programs.
After a ceremonial cutting of the ribbon at 3 p.m. Tuesday, tours will be given throughout the building until 8 p.m., with volunteers in each area explaining how the Harvest Project operates - and explaining how people can help.
The renovations have been paid for partially by the landlord and partially by the Harvest Project, which has raised $100,000 so far for its capital program - about $50,000 short of its final goal.
As well, the new facility will help them address a growing need for their services, said Lee. While the organization always tries to move people away from dependency, it has found an increasing number of people seeking them out since 2008, and that hasn't let up even as the economy has started to recover.
"I would say the high cost of housing, of accommodation of any sort on the North Shore, presents a lot of pain for folks who are marginally employed or who are suffering those family calamities that really kind of knock the stability out of a family," he said.
In all, about 40 per cent of the clients are newcomers, whether international or from within Canada, another 40 per cent are single parents, often going through a split in the family, and another 20 per cent are people with chronic health issues, including mental illness.
