Joey Amos, manager of Inuvik’s John Wayne Kiktorak Centre, says a newly cleared out office space is now available to external service workers to use to work with residents, making their services more accessible.
Joey Amos, manager of Inuvik’s warming centre, stands by the centre’s new Dutch door.
“Wellness teams, addictions counselors, and other service workers can come in to the centre to use the space free of charge,” Amos said. “For the residents to go out to these folks’ offices, sometimes it’s a little intimidating for them. They’re more comfortable here.”
Amos said service workers can use the space during business hours, but they must bring their own furniture to use as it is an empty office. He hopes the space will provide privacy to the residents while they receive services.
“This just makes it so much easier for the clients that we serve,” Amos said. “It’s not only going to be necessarily for the residents here, but we’ll make it available for the IRC and the Gwich’in clients, and we’ll extend it out to the homeless shelter as well. This is a place where they can come and really talk.”
A Dutch door was also installed in between the centre’s kitchen and the common area. Amos said the door will make serving food more efficient and safer for staff.
The warming centre also held a board meeting on Tuesday Jan. 23. Amos said the board discussed registering the centre as a charitable organization in order to make more funding options available for the centre.
He said the centre is also working on changing its fiscal year end from June 30 to match with the federal and territorial government’s March 31 ending.
“They don’t jive right now. Changing it will make doing our finances easier,” Amos said.
The board’s treasurer reported the centre is on the right track, according to Amos.
“We’ve been spending wisely, do we’re doing pretty decent,” Amos said. “With the fundraiser coming up, we just want to raise some funds to make sure we can continue providing our services. The community has helped us a lot with their donations.”
The warming centre is holding a benefit concert featuring musical guest Alan Pysar Saturday Feb. 17 in the community hall at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. The event will start at 9 p.m. with local musician Louie Goose opening the concert. Tickets are $10.