NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — They moved on up, to the east side.
For years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pictou County worked out of a basement office on Stellarton Road. Now, they’re just getting used to their new home – which is providing a much larger work space then they’d been accustomed to – on MacGregor Street, on New Glasgow’s east side, a stone’s throw from the now-empty lot that used to be John Brother MacDonald Stadium.
“Our mentoring coordinators, they all have space now,” said Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pictou County executive director Margie Grant-Walsh.
“We have extra meeting space, programming space (and) in the summer it’s going to be great, because we have property outside, where we can do some on-site programming outside with the kids.”
The local organization moved into the bungalow on Nov. 15, 2018, and held an open house in early March, allowing the general public a chance to tour the facility and to ask any questions they might have.
“We had a very tiny, tiny space on Stellarton Road,” Grant-Walsh said, “and we had storage area rented, so we don’t have to pay for that now.”
The move was a long time in the making.
“This just didn’t happen just overnight,” added Grant-Walsh, who on March 9 marked her 32nd year with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pictou County.
“I’ve been here 32 years, and we had a dream a number of years ago, then we got sidelined – finances – but the thing with this building is, we are able to support more kids.”