Rising Above has officially broken ground on their planned facility expansion after reaching 65 per cent of their fundraising goal.
The occasion was marked with a well-attended ceremony that featured dignitaries from around the City and County of Grande Prairie, along with representatives from the Provincial Government, the MD of Greenview, and donors to celebrate the project’s coming to fruition.
Rising Above Executive Director Mel Siggelkow calls the event a “turning point” for his organization, as the new four-storey expansion will allow for even more capacity and care at the ministry.
“It’s a turning point for the organization, we’re building a building on our property now, thanks to the gift of this facility from the City of Grande Prairie and it’s going to make a big difference in our capacity and our ability to serve our clientele,” he says. “Addiction rates, as everybody knows, are increasing, and there’s no sign of it getting any better, so the only solution is to provide help, for more people, one person at a time.”
So far, Rising Above has managed to raise around $3.7 million of the project’s $5 million budget, and Siggelkow says more fundraising efforts are on the way to ensure the organization meets its goal.
“70 per cent of our current operating costs come out of community support, this community has been overwhelmingly generous to Rising Above over the years, and we anticipate they’re going to step up to this project and join us in this, and by the time we’re ready to open our doors, we’ll be debt-free,” he says.
The new facility will feature a 70-bed capacity, along with expanded services like the classroom, shared spaces for eating and recreation, and more offices for staff. Perhaps most important however is the integration of men and women at the facility, which Siggelkow says is a critical need that Rising Above continues to navigate.
“I heard it the other day from the ladies that they, consistently report back to us that they feel left out because the guys are right here, they can access support from staff all day long just by walking down the hall,” he says. “The ladies have to make a concentrated effort to come from their house in the wintertime, walk 20 minutes in the cold to get here, and so they don’t do it.”
“They just feel like once they leave their programming after classes in the morning they are now disconnected and isolated.”
The Executive Director shares an alarming stat, saying his organization sees a consistent 400 to 500 applications every year, with an intake of about 100, but he says he is optimistic the expansion will allow for more capacity, and therefore, more people getting the help they need.
“It’s going to make a big difference to have them right on the site where the staff have their offices and can be supportive,” he says. “We’ve been getting four to five hundred applications a year consistently, and our intake has been about a hundred, so for every one that we say yes to, we have to say no to four and that’s hard.”
The new facility will be built on Rising Above’s current property, and Siggelkow says the organization will continue relying on support from the community in the coming months.
