Literacy Nipissing celebrates grand reopening
Literacy Nipissing in North Bay celebrated its official grand reopening, a major milestone after the learning centre burnt down in 2020.
Although it's been operating and offering services again, a reopening was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly three years later, after finding a new home and getting through the pandemic, the learning centre was able to welcome people to its new location.
"To go from that to this is overwhelming sometimes," said Vandra McQuarrie of Literacy Nipissing.
"Not even a fire -- not even a fire -- could stop us."
McQuarrie said Literacy Nipissing offers services to around 150 people per year teaching reading, writing and other life skills.
"We have students who do not know how to read one letter of the alphabet and all of a sudden they learn how to read, write, how to pay their own bills," she said.
"They learn what those numbers mean on those bills. We have students who know a lot of stuff but don't have a GED diploma, so we offer them the opportunity to learn skills, to maybe go on and get a better job."
"The reason why I want to come here is because I want to learn more," said learner Jack Osborne.
"I have my tutor right now. We go through the books and do stories and everything."
Having offered services to more than 6,000 students over the years, McQuarrie said many students go on to be successful at all different paths of life.
"They say, 'Oh, I could never repay you. I'm so thankful for all that you've done for me,'" she said.
"They're the ones who have done the work. All we did was offered them a place and a teacher. We offered them an opportunity to reach their potential."
McQuarrie said she hopes the centre continues to grow, adding they are always welcoming new students.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.