The fight to save the Autumn Lodge senior’s facility in the Berwyn area continues.
North Peace Housing Foundation
The group Friends of Autumn Lodge is holding a public meeting on Thursday, July 27, 2017 at the village’s Elks Community Centre.
Earlier this month, the North Peace Housing Foundation announced that the 58-year-old facility will be closing its doors on September 30, 2017, with most of its 33 residents to be relocated to the Heritage Tower in Peace River, while some, if they so choose, will head to the Harvest Lodge in Fairview.
Berwyn Mayor Ron Longtin told the Trending 55 Newsroom that he wants to see the community’s elders remain within the community.
“It’s only a block to walk from the Autumn Lodge to Main Street,” said Longtin. “That includes to the post office, the drug and grocery stores, and to the old age centre.”
He says it’s handy for these people to live there, and that they’re devastated that this place is about to shut down.
“It’s going to be detrimental (for all those businesses),” Longtin continued. “We’re a small community to start with, and we don’t have all that much business in our community, so we really have to defend what we’ve got.”
Longtin adds that the lodge, which is technically on land owned by the Municipal District (MD) of Peace, would affect them too.
“They’re pretty upset about this as well,” he said. “Last I heard, there was no response to a request from the MD to hold a meeting with North Peace Housing to discuss this issue.”
In a press release, the foundation says that over the years, it’s just become too expensive to maintain the facility. A provincial estimate done in March 2009 put the price a $6.5-million, which the foundation says would be $10-million in today’s figures.
Autumn Lodge in the Village of Berwyn. (Photo/North Peace Housing Foundation)
As well, financial figures from 2016 show that the Autumn Lodge ran a deficit of $340,000.
But Friends of Autumn Lodge are not willing to give up without a fight.
They contend that the lodge is a community within a community. In an email, they say that the residents are all neighbours who grew up together or lived as neighbours in their younger days. They contend that the closure means moving away from their community and their families.
As such, the group wants to find a way to keep the lodge open, and to keep their elders within the community.
Attending tonight’s meeting includes councillors from the Village of Berwyn and the MD of Peace, as well as five of the 12 board members for the North Peace Housing Administration.
The offices of Peace Country MLAs Marg McCuaig-Boyd and Debbie Jabbour have declined to attend, as have the province’s Ministries of Seniors and Housing, as well as Municipal Affairs.
– Posted by BET
