"Side Door has served its purpose as a drop-in centre," said new acting executive director Ryan Peters. "But now it's time to take it further to a place where kids can leave the Door being changed."

They plan to offer more structured entertainment and open up the centre to community groups.

Senior co-ordinator Jay Bulckaert is starting a thrice-weekly program called the Group of Ten. Each month a different group of 10 kids is selected at random for dinner, pool, skiing and group discussions.

The idea is to mix fun with thought-provoking discussions.

"The way I envision it is almost like a camp atmosphere. We'll do lots of fun and crazy stuff, but hopefully, they'll walk away a little better off... There is a lot of hopelessness. The kids tell me that. It's not just an impression I have."

Regular drop-in programs will continue Monday and Thursday evenings for teenagers and the Side Door is open weekdays after school for younger kids.

Once a week, Side Door will hold a more structured night.

"We'll offer things like gym nights, movie nights," said Peter. "More organized entertainment as opposed to just coming and flopping."

The centre is also beginning to offer space to community groups such as Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD).

A Christian youth group will use the youth centre on Friday nights and a fundraising night is scheduled for Saturdays.

Ideally, they'd also like to start an overnight program for kids living in abusive situations. But they're running into legal and insurance problems.

"It's almost like a Catch-22. If you don't have the funding, you can't run a program. But you can't not operate a program and expect to get funding."

Still, staff are plugging away, hoping to get more funding and hire more staff.

"We've only been in this facility for a year now," said Peters. "It may seem to the community like we're dragging our feet. But we just want to do what we can to the very best of our ability."

"We do see a light at the end of the tunnel. We do have a vision for this place. But it takes money."