Alex House is asking for help from the community after suffering a flood at its beach house.
The neighbourhood house, located in Crescent Beach, suffered what it calls a “devastating flood” during the December snowstorm that caused chaos for commuters, with temperatures staying below 0 C for several days in a row.
Gillian Roberts, a Crescent Beach resident for nearly 30 years, is a neighbour and Alex House volunteer, and also runs the Repair Café out of the South Surrey location.
“Alex House just gives so much back to the community, from babies up to seniors,” Roberts said, noting the beach house affected by the flood was home to the infant and toddler childcare program.
“After the December storm, the pipes (in the beach house) froze and then they burst,” flooding the building.
A volunteer-driven organization, Alex House activities include family support and early childhood development programs, child and youth programs, programs for people with disabilities and low-income families, seniors programs, adult and community programs and services, and more.
Camp Alex is also run on the two-and-a-half acre, fenced site, which includes multipurpose halls and dining areas, cabins, dorms, a festival lounge and more that surround a large green space.
“It’s a neighbourhood house that supports the community and I think it is such an asset to the neighbourhood,” said Roberts, adding that Alex House offers space for free for the Repair Cafés, noting four cafés happen this year.
“I just thought the community needs to know about this.”
Repair Cafés are also run by volunteers, with the aim to educate people that things can be fixed and to give them the opportunity to learn to do their own repairs.
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In a Feb. 1 post on its Facebook page, Alex House appealed to the community for their help, describing the flood.
“The insurance deductible alone is $100,000 as Crescent beach is on a floodplain,” the post said.
They’re hoping to raise at least $50,000 to help repair the damages.
Alex House director of core operations Rita Frederiksen noted the flood was not cause by a high tide or flood from being near the ocean, but rather, a cracked water pipe.
“It’s quite a mess. There was a lot of damage – all the drywall, all the flooring, it all needs replacing,” she said.
“It’s really tough. We’re already so tight with our budget.”
She’s hopeful all the necessary repairs and renovations can be completed as quickly as possible.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise the necessary funds which had reached just over $4,000 by Monday (Feb. 6) afternoon.
“The impact has been significant and we can expect somewhere between $50,000 – $100,000 in costs for emergency restoration,” the GoFundMe page states.
@Canucklehedd
tricia.weel@peacearchnews.com
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