GIVING ADDICTS A RAY OF HOPE

Agencies Receive $1.6M To Help Troubled Youth

NO matter how motivated they are, Kelly Holmes knows that the young
drug addicts in West Broadway are not likely to go knocking on the
door of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba for help.

That's why her 12-year-old street-front operation, called Resource
Assistance for Youth (RAY), can have such an important impact on kids
who need help. It reaches out to them on the street.

Yesterday, RAY learned it will receive two years worth of money that
will pay for two new staffers (a 25 per cent increase). It is part of
$1.6 million in funding that the province is making available for
community youth addiction support agencies.

The new money will allow agencies across the province to hire 11 more
people.

Holmes said her West Broadway operation does not ask anything of the
kids it helps and is non-judgmental, which is one of the reasons it's
lasted as long as it has while dealing with 60 to 70 people per day.

"We have gangbangers and a lot of tough people through here, and there
have never been any acts of violence. And the only thing that's ever
stolen are cups of coffee or sugar packets," she said. RAY provides
initial contact for youth who need various kinds of support -- drug
addiction counselling, housing assistance, food or clothing needs --
and, when necessary, directs them to other agencies that can help.

The new money will allow RAY to hire two new people and form a
three-person outreach team to make contact with hard-to-reach youth
who need help.

"The only way to do that is to go out there under the bridges and on
the street corner and in the gangs," she said. "We can offer them a
juice box or some clean clothes and then it starts from there."

Holmes and other community agencies applauded the provincial
government's commitment to continue funding such work.

"It is great that people in the province recognize that," she said.

Last month, the province announced that it would make available $9
million over three years for a number of new services. Yesterday's
announcement made it clear where some of that money would be going.

In addition to the new jobs at RAY, several other new positions will
now be funded across the province.