A young mother trying to build a better life for her infant daughter; a family fleeing war and refugee camps a half a world away; a man struggling to find his way after a car accident leaves him with a brain injury. All receive a warm welcome at The Cridge Centre for the Family as they work to rebuild their lives, through supportive housing, training programs, childcare or innumerable other services. Quite simply, there’s no wrong door at The Cridge Centre.

A history of community support

Founded by Bishop Edward Cridge and his wife Mary as an orphanage in 1873, today the centre is home to seven distinct programs that reach throughout the community.

“One really exciting thing that happens here is that our programs don’t operate in isolation. Our children enjoy activities with our seniors and our brain injury program participants might work serving breakfast to our children,” explains Joanne Linka, Manager of Communication and Fund Development.

“It’s about community, and relieving the isolation that can come with situations such as poverty, brain injury or abuse,” Linka says. “We all need community, we all need meaningful work and we all need meaningful relationships.”

• Childcare Services: The Cridge Centre provides many childcare services, including daycare, preschool, before- and after-school care and daycamps for children of all ages, abilities and cultures.
• Seniors Services: Located in a beautifully refurbished, award-winning heritage building, The Cridge’s 76-unit assisted living seniors’ residence offers a wealth of amenities, including one- and two-bedroom suites, nutritious lunch and dinner daily, housekeeping, activity and exercise room, chapel and theatre, transportation for outings, and 24-hour support.
• Transition House: The Cridge Transition House for Women operates a 30-day emergency shelter for women and children fleeing abusive relationships, plus counselling and connections to community supports. Call 250-479-3963 at any time.
• Supportive Transitional Housing: Second-stage housing provides affordable and supportive housing to women and children fleeing abuse, and immigrant and refugee individuals and families.
• Young Parent Outreach: The Cridge’s outreach worker provides support, mentoring and advocacy to young parents as they endeavour to have healthy babies, develop their parenting skills, and pursue their educational and employment goals.
• Respite and Respitality care: This two-pronged program offers a resource service connecting families with a child with special needs to qualified respite care providers, and a “Respitality” service offering parents a chance to renew and relax in a partner hotel. “Our award-winning program gives 25 to 30 families each month a night off. For many of these families, it’s the only night of the year they get to rest and be refreshed,” Linka says.
• Brain Injury Services: Offering residential care and a variety of community supports for survivors of brain injury, programs include training and employment, skills retraining and opportunities to reconnect with community.

You can make a difference today

As Western Canada’s oldest registered non-profit society, The Cridge Centre relies on the community to support such a breadth of services. Donate today to make a vital difference in the lives of women, children, seniors and families in your community! Donations of cash, securities and assessed in-kind gifts are eligible for tax credit.

For more information, call Joanne at 250-995-6419. Learn more at cridge.org.