New wheels for the David Busby Centre

Barrie shelter will use funds to purchase a new Street Outreach van

The wheels have been put in motion which will allow the David Busby Centre to purchase a new Street Outreach van. The vehicle will be used to bring food and other supplies to Barrie’s homeless and at-risk population.

The agency is in the driver’s seat, according to executive director Sara Peddle, thanks to a $15,000 donation from the Kiwanis Club of Barrie.

“We’ll now be able to purchase a new van because our ol’ Betty has decided to retire on us, whether we like it or not.” said Peddle.

Busby raised $8,000 through the Great Canadian Giving Challenge and an anonymous donor recently put down $10,000.

The shelter has been renting a van for the last month because it was a safety issue to keep the other vehicle going.

The van travels about 100 kilometres each day providing supplies to about 100 to 140 people a day.

Community support is critical to the organization.

“The day-to-day grind of what we’re doing for homelessness is super important, but we couldn’t do it without the community,” said Peddle. “We get tired and sometimes it can be overwhelming or frustrating, but then you see the community coming together and it lifts our spirits and gets us going again.”

Kiwanis Club of Barrie president Chuck Mcllravey said the van is going to serve a very positive purpose.

“We feel it is something that’s needed. We delivered about $100,000 about 18 months ago and we put $15,000 into this. We feel it is very worthwhile.”

The $100,000 donation from Kiwanis allowed the Busby Centre to do renovations to their Mulcaster Street location.

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