Orillia's Lighthouse holds official grand opening, with plans to slowly increase capacity

While operations have been ongoing throughout the last year, many gathered in the sunshine city for the official grand opening of The Lighthouse in Orillia.

Staff at The Lighthouse Shelter and Community Services Hub have been forced for nearly a year to wait to welcome the public into the new facility. COVID-19 protocols eliminated the opportunity for a large gathering until now.

"It's a huge celebration for the community to come together that supported the Building Hope campaign," says Lynn Thomas, the development and communications manager. "All of those donors, all of the businesses and the service groups, they are all able to come today, and we can all celebrate together finally."

The $14.5-million fundraising campaign first started in 2017 before ending in April of last year.

The facility operates 24/7, 365 days a year, providing various levels of support to vulnerable populations in Orillia.

"The Lighthouse is a housing first priority program, and it's basically getting people on the road to wellness and independence, independent housing; this is the first step in the emergency shelter," says Thomas. "Supportive housing is on the property in a separate building for people that are experiencing chronic homelessness."

Throughout the pandemic, it has been forced to limit the number of people it can support, only being able to provide 33 beds. However, that process is starting to change.

"We can't obviously go to full capacity right away because we need the staffing and all of the service delivery protocols behind full capacity," says Thomas. "However, we will be slowly increasing over the next six months."