ROOF Agency

In late 1988, Kate Millar, with the help of others in the community, began working with the street youth in downtown Kitchener. In 1989, a friend donated office space to Kate, and ROOF was officially born. Kate noticed that there were a lot of young people living on the streets of our community. These youth had great difficulty accessing services that were available and were quickly becoming victims of the hostile “street environment”.

In 1990, ROOF moved into a facility at Duke and College Streets. It was in this building that ROOF began to define a set of values and principles that were to become the foundation of the present day agency. In 1991, ROOF moved into 43 Cedar St. N. in Kitchener. ROOF extended to seven day service; added a connective outreach program; added a food hamper program; created a more comprehensive volunteer training program; and added trained counsellors to its team. On March 1, 1996, ROOF began its partnership in the Betty Thompson Youth Centre, increasing its capacity to provide service to high risk youth.

In 1999, ROOF purchased a new facility at 242 Queen Street South, in Kitchener. This facility allowed us the space to offer extended hours of service and more diverse group activities. An on site partnership with Public Health Nurses began. This building purchase was made possible through the generous support of a private donor.

On December 28, 2005, the building at 242 Queens Street suffered a devastating fire, resulting in the closure of that location and immeasurable loss. Fortunately, through our continued partnership with the Betty Thompson Youth Center, ROOF was able to open for limited services that same day. Working closely with the City of Kitchener, the Board was able to quickly find what was thought to be a more suitable location. On January 17, 2006, ROOF officially opened its temporary quarters at 79 Joseph Street, in the downtown core, while various options for the site at 242 Queen Street were explored.

Unfortunately, the KOR Gallery proved to be more temporary than anyone anticipated. Coal Tar contamination made it necessary for ROOF to move yet again. As of April 2006, ROOF staff were temporarily housed in the Betty Thompson Youth Centre and drop-in was run out of Trinity United Church. The arrival of a new Executive Director in June 2006 offered a renewed sense of energy and motivation to move forward. On December 28, 2007 we returned to our old address of 242 Queen Street South that is now our new facility.

During the first years of life, ROOF provided services to approximately 80 and 100 clients a year. This number rose by approximately 30% per year until 1993, when we began to see a dramatic rise. In 1994, we served 650 individual youth in our community and in 1995 we served 981. In 1996, we were able to provide service to 1,376 members of our youth community, an increase of almost 50%. In 1997, that number rose to 1,773 and in 1998, ROOF provided service to 2,152 individual youth. By 2003, ROOF was assisting 2,500 youth. Due to government cutbacks and restructuring there is a definite erosion of services available to youth in our community. Thus the number of youth requiring service, along with the issues they face, has grown exponentially. Today, ROOF continues to serve KW youth through programs (such as the ROOF Lunchbox and Street Designs) that help youth gain work experience, while continuing outreach and drop-in services.

In the 20 years through which ROOF has provided service to our community’s homeless youth, we have seen many youth re-integrate into the mainstream of society. Thousands of youth facing dire circumstances have benefited from the option of immediate services to develop the personal confidence, resources and skills necessary to rise above adversity. ROOF remains committed to the ideal that “one youth on the street is one too many”.

Filed under: How it all began on November 2nd, 2009