Page 27 - ECF-Thrive-Nov-Dec_2024

Jordan Reiniger, Executive Director of Boyle Street Community Services
Photo BLUEFISH STUDIOS
ecf.ca 27
By CAROLINE BARLOTT
JORDAN REINIGER, EXECUTIVE Director of Boyle Street Community Services, says that the organization’s new building, okimaw peyesew kamik, which is Cree for King Thunderbird Centre, will be far more than simply a new home for the organization.
Since 1971, Boyle Street has been helping those experiencing homelessness and poverty in Edmonton. Up until last year, it did so in a decrepit old building — once a banana ripening plant — with a forever-flooding basement and spaces not adequate for the organization’s purposes.
The old building was a prime example of the type of homes many charitable organizations often find themselves in — buildings simply left over in the community, says Reiniger.
So, while a new home is desperately needed, the beautiful, carbon-neutral building — designed with the input of Indigenous elders and the organization’s clientele — will transform the delivery of services.
“I think for us, one of the driving forces behind this project has been the people that
we serve that often are treated as trespassers in their own community,” says Reiniger. “They aren’t given the dignity and worth that we
know they have. And so, we wanted to create
a building that was beautiful, had significant investment from the community, as a way of saying: ‘Hey, you’re worth it. You matter enough to us as a community that we’re going to build this beautiful building that’s meant for you.’”
With a huge amount of community and governmental support, the Build with Boyle Campaign raised enough funds for the construction of the building.