Rowan House Emergency Shelter is celebrating 20 years in operation.

Though the gala originally planned to mark the milestone has been cancelled, Rowan House is still inviting residents to look back on their history and partake in new programs launching in the near future.

Resource Development Coordinator with Rowan House, Sarah Davis, says the organization had a humble beginning when it was originally founded in 2000.

"We had a very small capacity to say the least, and it had to be very low risk because we didn't have the security. So we started in Black Diamond and when we got the funding for our full-time house, we moved to High River."

Their current building, though much more spacious and secure, was completed on a year prior to the 2013 flood, which devastated High River and many other areas of the Foothills.

Davis says Rowan House was also markedly affected.

"We finished building in 2012 right before the flood, and then the flood hit. A series of events over the years! We had to shut down and then were operating on half capacity just doing what we could. It's not like the need goes away, right?"

Luckily, they were able to fully reopen in 2014, with 24 beds available to those in need.

Rowan House still has plenty in store for the future, having just launched their Grow Together campaign, with their Safe At Home campaign set to launch in the near future.

They're also in the process of transferring their preventative education program online, to be available during the pandemic.

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