A Windsor agency for transgender and LGB people will soon move to a new, larger location.
WE Trans Support is moving into 1435 Tecumseh Road East.
Executive Director Jayce Carver says they are now completing renovations and hope to move in by October 1.
Carver says the new 25,000 square foot space is more than twice the size of their old home.
She says the agency had already outgrown its space at 111 Wyandotte Street West almost as soon as they opened their doors in April 2018.
Carver tells CTV News the new space has two floors and can offer meeting rooms, a community room and even a food bank and a health and wellness centre.
"I think this is what our community needs. It's what our youth deserve. It's going to a space that builds community and saves lives," says Carver.
The organization receives no government funding, but expects to have official charitable status soon.
Still, Carver says they are appealing for sponsors to help hire more staff, increase counselling services, and bring in a Trans-health specialist nurse practitioner.
"We need to put these walls up, we need to get some furnishings and we are not going to be able to do that alone," says Carver.
WE Trans Support now offers drop-in hours, peer support mentors and groups, profession counselling services, and corporate training workshops.
Carver says they will also add a hall of fame honouring LGBT community leaders in Windsor-Essex.
"It's going to be the emotional heart of the building," says Carver. "So much work has gone in by people who I look up to, that are real big leaders in the LGBT community. And so we wanted to honour those people."
