{"id":4405,"date":"2026-02-23T23:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/?p=4405"},"modified":"2026-02-23T23:14:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:14:42","slug":"a-new-home-for-community-touchstone-drop-in-opens-its-doors-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/a-new-home-for-community-touchstone-drop-in-opens-its-doors-on-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Home for Community: Touchstone Drop\u2011In Opens Its Doors on Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Touchstone drop-in officially opened at 555 Broadway on December 8, 2025, and not a day too soon. The new space is larger, more functional, and thoughtfully designed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the former Erin St location, the offices and the drop-in overlapped, making programming challenging. \u201cIt was too small,\u201d says Lambert Baiden, the drop-in coordinator. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t handle any events, and it was overcrowded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tables in the staff boardroom doubled as a ping-pong table. If one person wanted to watch a movie and another person wanted to play video games, someone had to wait. \u201cNow we have a luxury of options,\u201d Lambert explains. \u201cWe can accommodate people with different interests at the same time, and we are able to have events without disturbing offices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed with participants\u2019 needs at the forefront, the Broadway drop\u2011in recognizes the complex challenges many face\u2014including homelessness, food insecurity, and limited transportation \u201cThe challenges participants face here [in Winnipeg] are different than ones that live rurally,\u201d says Lambert. The drop-in offers laundry facilities, a full kitchen, and a clean and comfortable place to keep warm. It also distributes clothing donations and runs a food bank, its deep freezers and shelves stocked by Harvest MB and the Leftovers Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Touchstone will offer a full schedule of programming at the new drop-in space, including regular life-skills workshops such as budgeting, parenting, and cooking as well as culturally-based activities with help from elders and community volunteers.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not only that, but the new location also features a multi-purpose area that can function as a confidential meeting place, a quiet room, a workshop space, or even a health clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The atmosphere in the Broadway drop-in is noticeably different from the Erin Street space. Participants struggled to make it to the old location because of its distance from the places they lived. Now people come every day. \u201cIt feels very homey now,\u201d Lambert says. \u201cParticipants feel safe. And that\u2019s the environment we want to create.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More improvements are still ahead. Plans are underway to add a shower and gender-neutral bathrooms. IJC also hopes to expand its Indigenous services and cultural supports to its Touchstone participants with programming offered at the drop-in. If you haven\u2019t visited yet, be sure to check it out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Touchstone drop-in officially opened at 555 Broadway on December 8, 2025, and not a day too soon. The new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/LAMBERT-21.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4408,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions\/4408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}