United Way Perth Huron is hosting an open house event at their Vanastra Access Centre.
Megan Partridge, UWPH's Director Governance & Community Impact, says the centre is a community space, but it will also serve a greater purpose.
"It's about enabling residents to connect with service providers and others in the community. A community space where meetings can be booked, whether that's an individual with a service provider, or groups or committees, but an overall community space to bring people together in the Vanastra community," Partridge explained.
She adds it's early days with the centre just getting started, but Partridge says the UWPH is hoping the centre becomes a hub for service agencies to provide help.
"There aren't any specific days that services are coming in at this point, it's something that we're building on because it's just launching. So there may be regular services that start booking there. But if an individual has an agency that they're connecting with and maybe they can't get to another location, they can call us and look at booking with a service agency so they can meet at that location in Vanastra," added Partridge.
The open house next week will be an opportunity not just for the public, but the service providers in the area.
"They'll get to see the space and get to meet everyone, and so people know it's there and that they can use it. We've invited out a lot of service agencies, as well, hoping they can make it, so they can see the space and see how they could use that to support individuals and committees and meetings and things like that. It should be fun!" enthused Partridge.
Partridge also notes this project took a lot of hard work and support from many different people.
"This is really an initiative of a really keen group of citizens and partners, and it's just really exciting to see the vision coming to fruition now, in wanting to have a community space in Vanastra. It's very exciting," Partridge concluded.
The open house will be held Tuesday, October 24 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Vanastra Community Christian Reformed Church on 5th Avenue in Vanastra. The Vanastra Access Centre is housed within the building.
