Sun Youth unveils its new community centre in Villeray

A new chapter begins for Sun Youth.

After working out of five different buildings, a new 40,000-square-foot facility now brings everything under one roof — including a food bank, community kitchen, garden and gymnasium.

Each year, Sun Youth helps about 5,000 Montreal households, representing around 17,000 individuals, with services ranging from food assistance and emergency support to back-to-school programs and summer camps.

“It’s important to be in one location and have a cohesive organization where people can use all the services if need be under one roof,” said Sun Youth’s executive director, Marina Boulos-Winton.

Montreal Alouettes player Régis Cibasu first came to Sun Youth as a kid, playing on the football team.

“Honestly, I wish I could live this change when I was a kid and play here. Because we used to play touch football in the gym, so I can only imagine doing the same stuff in this new facilities. It’s great to see the kids nowadays have these beautiful facilities where they can come in, do studies, work out, play, have fun, meet new people, and grow as a human and athletes,” said Cibasu.

Charles Balangero joined Sun Youth in 1995 through a work integration program and became a full-time employee three years later, staying for more than 20 years.

During that time, he also volunteered with the organization’s football program — and one big win still stands out in his memory.

“In 2014 we were able to beat them by the field goal. It was the first time in 28 years we [won] the provincial championship over them. That was a big victory for us to beat North Shore,” said Balangero.

Now retired, he continues to volunteer at Sun Youth’s food bank, which sees an average of 27,500 visits a year.

“Most of the people who come is for temporary help —unless they are immobile— but most of the people are they’re facing immigration issues, they’ve just arrived, they’ve just lost a job, they’ll go back to work once they get back on their feet again. So I’d say that at least 60 per cent of the people who come to our food bank just need us for the first year,” said Boulos-Winton.

The organization funded the new $36‑million building through private donors and the federal government.

“People might think that because we now own a building after 70 years that we’re quite wealthy, but Sun Youth still functions through private donations that 93 per cent of our budget is actually all private donations,” added Boulos-Winton.