TIMMINS - The final touches are being put on a space for people to escape the weather.
While the DIY Community Health space was supposed to open in the spring, its new home at 114 Algonquin Blvd. E. is nearly renovated, furnished, and ready for people to use.
“We’re trying to create a community hub in this building,” said DIY Community Health founder Jason Sereda. “We were hoping to open for Christmas, but the electricians said on Monday that they won’t be coming back until January, so we’re aiming for the end of January.”
DIY Community Health is offering outreach and harm reduction work in Timmins downtown, and the new location will expand what is being offered to people.
The space includes accessible bathrooms and showers, a sitting area where people can get warm or stay cold, depending on the season, a community kitchen with a fridge, freezer, microwave for heating food, and washers and dryers.
Timmins and Area Women in Crisis donated the furniture and appliances.
“This is huge,” said Sereda. “This is a place for people to get free access to the basic life.”
Over the summer, the space was a staging area for DIY Community Health’s outreach team and it will continue to act in that capacity once it’s officially open.
“It’s been a space to store our supplies, and we’ll keep that up once we open,” said Sereda. “But it’s been a place to come in and get cool, get some water.”
Sereda said the opening delays are primarily due to construction delays. However, with a few more days of work from the electricians, he said they’re nearly there.
“We’ve got to tile the shower and stuff like that but we have our volunteers doing that,” he said.
Food donations for the fridge, laundry detergent, fabric softeners, dryer sheets for the washing machines, and monetary donations will be accepted when the space opens.
There are plans for the currently white walls as well. DIY Community Health is talking to some artists about putting up murals, and there will be space for others to add their own work.
“People can just draw and create the murals,” he said. “We’ll see what it looks like.”
Anyone who would like to help with the cleanup and set up of the space is welcome to drop by, and more information can be found on the DIY Community Health Facebook page.
