The foundation is complete and the walls are up, but it will still be a while before the Teen Challenge Alberta Men's Centre expansion is complete.
Teen Challenge, a 12-month in-residence drug and alcohol rehabilitation, offers help and hope to addicts from age 18 to 65. The program has been in operation at the Alberta Men's Centre location in Priddis for almost 30 years.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held last September to expand the facility from 12 beds to 24, but the rebuild project is still $1.5 million shy of the $5.5 million needed to complete the new building.
The program gets no government funding. The year-long treatment program costs the individual $1,000 and the rest of the $60,000-treatment is covered through donations. The expansion project is also being funded through donations.
The project was originally slated to be complete by the fall of 2019 and organizers now hope construction will resume in the spring of 2020. The additional funding is needed to finish the interior, remove the old buildings, furnish the new centre, landscape the surrounding grounds and purchase a new 15-passenger van.
When completed, the centre will include comfortable residential living space for 24 students and six graduates, counseling and classroom spaces, recreational and gym space, a commercial kitchen with dining hall, and a chapel with a view of the Alberta landscape.
For more information visit the Teen Challenge Alberta website.
