The local hang-out for youngsters would see 200 or more kids roaming the expansive building, playing games, joking around and just living in the moment with their fellow youths.
The good news is that even in the era of COVID-19, that’s still happening on a near nightly basis. The difference is only 30 kids are allowed through the doors at any one time, making for a far different atmosphere than when things were at their peak before the pandemic.
That’s all fine and well for founder Joe Dueck, though — as long as the doors are open and kids have something to do in a time when, well, there isn’t much to do, it’s good news.
“It’s going OK,” Dueck said Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve been offering programs to the youth since the beginning of the pandemic, starting online and then moving to outdoor adventure stuff in our beautiful local parks in Wakamow and Crescent Park and now we’re running programs with 30 kids in the building.
“So we’ve kind of just been going because youth mental health is an important thing to invest in, even if it’s just with limited numbers.”
Joe’s Place was one of the first local organizations to close its doors at the beginning of the pandemic last March. It had just held one of its regular drop-in Saturday nights with the aforementioned 200-plus youngsters when word became more and more serious with regards to the novel coronavirus that had found its way to our shores. Rather than risk a sudden outbreak, Dueck closed things down. A week later, pretty much everyone else was following suit.
“So that was quite a shock to go from 200 to zero, overnight,” Dueck said.
When things began to reopen in the summer, Joe’s Place did the same, offering a slew of outdoor activity adventures in Wakamow Valley and Crescent Park, with group outdoor activities that included hiking, cycling, canoeing and kayaks, photography walks and other fun stuff.
“It was a chance just to get the youth out of the house but still socially distanced and out enjoying the great outdoors,” said Dueck.
In the fall, Joe’s Place received approval to hold limited gatherings, with a maximum of 30 youths in the building at any one time. That’s where things have stood since: visitors sign up on the Joe’s Place Discord server for a Friday or Saturday night, then there are small Tuesday night gatherings and Wednesday night work-skills training where participants help clean the building in addition to learning woodworking and costume and prop building.
All while following very, very strict guidelines with regards to COVID in order to keep the facility open.
“It’s all about making sure the youth have hope in these weird times,” Dueck said.
The pandemic did have a hard effect on one of its most popular events, with the Voltage New Year’s Eve extravaganza being severely scaled back from its usual massive celebration at Hillcrest Apostolic Church.
Normally a gathering of 700 to 800 people with a well-produced show, live music and pretty much every activity under the sun, the event was first scaled back to a Voltage movie showing at Mae Wilson Theatre for around 130 people, but further restrictions in mid-December brought that plan to a halt as well.
“Then we got approval to run a micro-Voltage in Joe’s Place for the 30 youth who were helping to work on the Voltage movie,” Dueck said.
“That was still a pretty fun way to ring in the New Year; we had a meal catered by Deja Vu Cafe that was amazing and we watched a teaser we were able to put together from the movie shoot, had some fun events and then a countdown at midnight… it felt very ‘mini’ compared to our regular Voltage, but at least our youth were in a safe place for New Years and having a bit of fun.”
As for the future at Joe’s Place, the plan is to keep on keeping on for the time being. Maybe some winter outdoor adventures, and some more stuff in the parks when the weather warms up in spring. But all in all, just keep offering respite to youngsters while waiting out the pandemic.
“Then we’re still connecting with kids online on our Discord server and doing some video game tournaments and things like that,” Dueck said. “Other than that we’re stuck at the 30 mark a night, and might just open another night to deal with that.”
To check out the latest on what’s happening at Joe’s Place, be sure to check out their Facebook page.
