The North Island Women’s Services Society, which operates the Comox Valley Women’s Resource Centre and has been helping women in the Comox Valley for three decades, will close this summer.
After 30 years of delivering programs and services to women in the Valley, the North Island Women’s Services Society (NIWSS) is facing permanent closure later this year, executive director Romana Frey announced Friday.
“We look forward to serving the women of the Comox Valley during our final months and appreciate the support we are receiving from the community during this difficult time,” Frey noted in an e-mail.
The closure comes as a result of lost government funding.
The NIWSS has received funding from Status of Women Canada for Wheelhouse Women, a three-year project ending next month, and from provincial gaming grants, explained Frey.
That funding is being discontinued after the NIWSS failed a government audit.
About two years ago, there was an incidence of misappropriation of funds when funding that was to be spent on a particular expense category was used to renovate the facility, and the NIWSS was audited, explained Frey.
“The audit was completed last August, and we’re not able at this point to get continued funding from either funder,” she said. “We have enough to keep us going probably until the end of July.”
From now until July, the NIWSS and Comox Valley Women’s Resource Centre will operate as usual with its regular office hours Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., offering Women Exploring Self-Employment workshops, free income tax clinics for men and women, a drop-in computer lab and drop-in peer counselling and referrals to community resources.
Although she has worked for the NIWSS only since November, Frey has learned what an impact it has had on women in the Comox Valley.
“I’m still finding out what a difference it has made in the lives of women,” she said. “We have done good work. It’s an honour to be head of the organization after 30 years of providing such a valuable service to the community.”
Frey believes the Women’s Resource Centre could find a way to continue if it found more funding, such as through donations and fundraising, but the loss of government funding means the loss of operating funds that pay for the building, lighting, electricity and other essential costs.
“We’re still taking memberships and donations, and we’re certainly willing to look at all options, but without core funding, which pays for the building, Hydro … that’s where most of our budget goes,” she said.
The NIWSS is planning to “go out with a bang” and end on a positive note, explained Frey.
“What we do have planned for the last few months is to celebrate the 30-year history of the organization,” she said. “We’ve had hundreds of people volunteer and have had thousands of women in the Comox Valley who have taken advantage of our referrals, programs and services, and we’ve had many people as staff, so we’re planning to have a large, celebratory event.”
Frey encourages anyone who has been involved in the NIWSS and Women’s Resource Centre at any level in the past 30 years to contact her to become involved in the celebration. She can be contacted at 250-338-1133 or niwss2@shawbiz.ca.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
