Winnipeg youth centre at risk of closing

A long-running drop-in centre for youth in Winnipeg's North End may be forced to shut down next month if it cannot secure enough funding.

Funding has run out at the Joseph "Beeper" Spence Youth Drop-In Centre, so staff are scrambling to raise $80,000 in the next month. Otherwise, the facility may be forced to close on Dec. 23.

About 35 children a day come to the drop-in centre, located inside the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre on Robinson Street, to meet friends, play educational games, do homework, and use computers after school.

"My heart just hurts in the fact that, you know, we have to close our doors because of not having money … meanwhile, like, there's tonnes of money out there," Nancy Flett, the friendship centre's assistant executive director, told CBC News Tuesday.

The youth centre was named after Joseph "Beeper" Spence, who was killed in a drive-by shooting while walking down a North End street in 1995. At the time, the 13-year-old boy was mistaken for a gang member.

Flett, Spence's mother, said centre staff need help in their efforts to bring in more funds.

"If anyone has, like, ideas or someone that can, you know, stir me in the direction as to where we can try and get funding, I'd really appreciate any kind of help that I can get to keep these doors open," she said.

Youth centre officials say they will meet with potential donors in the coming days, in the hopes of keeping the facility's doors open.