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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday November 25, 2006 - 3 ing Home Suite Hope By Wilma Blokhuis SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER ON THE JOB: Wendy Perkins from Home Suite Hope, which is a local organization that's in the business of provid ing transitional housing for men. Home sweet home. "We searched a long time for a house," said Wendy Perkins of Suite Hope, an organiza tion that is providing transitional for single men. had already given up on t' ownhouses when we found this wonderful space where everything is wide - people won't be bumping into each other and comfortable for multiple living." The group home has five "rela tively equally sized" bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large kitchen and base ment with a walkout into a garden. It is housing four men and leaving one bedroom open for emergencies. The residents are responsible for their own groceries, cooking and laundry "just like they're liv ing independently," said Perkins. The men also share the household chores. They pay $85 to $450 a month rent, plus $50 utilities, depending on their income. "It's ' h ousing for people who need help financially and need a place to live,", she saitl "Their other needs are referred to other agencies." For this reason, there is no on site staffing in the house. "Last year, one of the residents took a great interest in the gar den... the gardening comes and goes with the residents," said Perkins, adding the house has gar dens front and back with a pond in the back yard. Perkins, 53, who had previously worked for the Oakville Salvation Army raising funds for its Lighthouse emergency shelter, is the driving force behind the estab lishment of Home Suite Hope, which is located in Oakville. "We moved into the townhouse on Nov. 1, 2004 after about a month-long renovation to split the master bedroom into two rooms." Now established, Home Suite Hope is. planning to expand to house women and children, and with Perkins at the helm that should happen sooner than later. "We're looking for a second res idence... likely an apartment set up that we would like to pur chase," said Perkins. "We're work ing with Kerr Street Ministries and its new Dream Centre which may be adding floors for family housing. It's an exciting proposi tion for both of us." Home Suite Hope has received strong community support. To date, it has raised $130,000. The May Court- Club of Oakville donat ed $50,000 to celebrate its 50th anniversary, $50,000 had already been received from a previous donor, and $30,000 was raised from a friendship evening hosted by Jay and Mary Lockwood "who recognize the need for Home Suite Hope and have supported us since the beginning." Local Rotarians, firefighters and Sisters of Good Hope - among others - donated furniture, stor age and volunteers. Home Depot and Canadian Tire donated sur plus goods at the end of sales. Perkins worked on launching Home Suite Hope for 18 months after leaving her three-year contract position with the Salvation Army. "The idea first came to me when I was working for the Salvation Army and the original concept for The Lighthouse project was to house people for 30 days and pro vide transitional housing to allow them to find affordable housing." The Lighthouse is a partner ship of the Salvation Army and Halton Region. "Finding affordable housing is quite a chore," continued Perkins. "The problem was that the com munity was opposed to the Lighthouse being located in a resi dential area so we reached a com promise. The Lighthouse could not be built in a residential area and we had to say no to transitional hous ing and no to women with chil dren, despite a huge need. I didn't agree with this compromise," said Perkins. (The Lighthouse accepts women but not children.) "Home Suite Hope was origi See On page 4 W ood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed H igh quality at Affordable Prices Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed Serving Oakville with Shop at H om e Service