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The Bridge Youth & Family Services Youth Recovery House is close to opening its doors thanks to Dean Reidt and Debbie Hubbard and others who made large donations to their fundraising campaign during the month of December. Dean, an active member of the Rotary Club of Kelowna Sunrise and club Foundation Committee member, along with his spouse Debbie, both avid community supporters, contributed $100,000 to the campaign.
Bridge Executive Director, Celine Thompson stated that "We were overwhelmed by the generosity of the community with this kind of continued support and as a result we could open this year.”
Expressions of gratitude and words of appreciation have been extended to the couple for their generous donation to the Bridge and for the care that they exemplified for those in need within the community. “It is so great to learn about such wonderful expressions of kindness and service to our community and the struggling youth,” stated a member of the club’s Foundation Committee upon learning about their donation.
Dean and Debbie first learned about the Youth Recovery House through the Rotary Club of Kelowna Sunrise, which has contributed $50,000 to the Bridge during the 2019-20 Rotary year. They shared that the process and criteria that the club used to decide which projects to fund encouraged them to take a closer look at the Youth Recovery House. “We also heard about it through our engagement with Journey Home and a Way Home Kelowna,” noted Dean.
Growing up in rural Saskatchewan, Dean and Debbie realized back then that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. Dean explained, “We live in downtown Kelowna and see young people on the streets and back lanes around us struggling with addictions. We also learned that there are currently no treatment options for youth in the Okanagan and that in addition to the COVID crisis there is also an opioid crisis. We just couldn’t stand by and watch. We wanted to be part of the solution.”
With less than 70 publicly funded youth treatment beds in British Columbia and not one in the Central Okanagan for youth under the age of 17, Debbie and Dean are confident that the Bridge Youth & Family Services Youth Recovery House will provide a Kelowna-based treatment option for youth who are ready to address their addictions.
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