School's Out for Summer

Do you remember that Alice Cooper song from the 1970's? We used to sing it on our last day of school when I was a kid. Along with the ever popular poetic gem, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers"... well, you know how it goes.

Here in Victoria, today is the last day of school until September. I dropped my son off for school this morning on the way to ARC and he could hardly contain his excitement. He didn't even complain about the salmon I packed in his lunch! That's the effect that summer has on people. It is the promise of sunny days after long periods of clouds and rain (or snow for the rest of my friends throughout Canada). It is the promise of rest after ten months of hard work.

And here at ARC, things are winding down a bit. Tomorrow we have seven men finishing up our Addictions Treatment program. We have several youth who have just graduated from the Beacon of Hope House program. And a bunch of us will be going on vacation for a few weeks. Things will be a little quieter here in July and August. But that doesn't mean we get to take the whole two months off like my son. There's a ton left to do. We are going through program revisions over the summer. We are working with architects and property consultants on our building condition assessment in order to renovate and refresh our facility. We have an accreditation review coming up in the autumn that we need to prepare for and put the finishing touches on.

But of all our concerns, one of the most urgent is our Beacon of Hope House facility. Our lease with the current landlord is not being renewed and is set to expire on October 31, 2012. We have been pounding the streets and connecting with all of our friends and partners to find a new place, but nothing has materialized yet. With only four months to go, time is getting short. We can't afford to take two months off. But neither can we make the mistake of settling for a site that will not work for our programs and staff. God grant us patience.

Enjoy the summer everyone.
Juan

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