Winnipeg youth drop-in centre closed

A drop-in centre for children and youth in Winnipeg's north end has shut down because it has run out of money.

Staff at the Joseph "Beeper" Spence Youth Drop-In Centre had issued a public appeal last month for fundingto keep the facility open, or else they would be forced to close its doors on Dec. 23.

Staff at the youth centre, which is located inside the Indian and Mtis Friendship Centre on Robinson Street, said $80,000 was needed to keep the facility open.

But Nancy Flett, the friendship centre's assistant executive director, told CBC News the drop-in centre shut down a couple weeks ago.

"The centre is already closed. We still haven't gotten no funding," Flett said Sunday.

"We sent in some proposals for different areasbut as of right now, we haven't heard anything from anybody."

About 35 children went to the drop-in centre every day to meet friends, play educational games, do homework and use computers after school.

The youth centre was named after Joseph "Beeper" Spence, who was killed in a drive-by shooting while walking down a north end street in 1995. At the time, the 13-year-old boy was mistaken for a gang member.

Flett, Spence's mother, said she hopes corporate sponsors will still come forward with enough money to reopen the youth centre.

"[We're] very much hoping that we do, you know, get some sort of funding," she said. "Even to openthree days a week would be good."