When Gym Rents Rise…

It’s a Sunday afternoon in April, 2000.

Twenty-two youth are off the street, playing basketball in the local High School gym.

The gym’s alive and there are no kids on the corner - they’re in the gym, picking up skills, confidence and new friends.

Fast forward to a Sunday afternoon in April, 2004.

The gym is dark – there’s no basketball in the High School gym.

Gym costs in four years have risen over 7,500%.

Erin Hoops fought against this rise, sought help and – got none!

The youth programs in the local High School were cancelled. Tragically, it's happening everywhere today.

But in Erin today, many of the kids aren’t congregating on the streets.

Erin Hoops Executive did not abandon them. They rented a very small abandoned Public School gym from it’s new owner, a private citizen. Erin Hoops now has a gym of its own; the rent’s subsidized by the Executive so the gym could feasibly be open 24 hours a day.  The kids have something to do that is supremely affordable.

Erin Hoops has become more than a basketball club.  It has become a community drop in centre.  The shift is daunting.  The needs, both of the Club and the youth, are awesome.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way.  Erin Hoops has found a way, for the moment, to turn adversity to the community’s advantage.

It has taken a risk, rented a gym, and struggled to meet new challenges without government funding.  It is meeting a need everyone in Ontario and Canada knows exists, but cannot solve using existing school facilities tax dollars provided for, due to rents beyond almost everyone’s recreational budget.

Further development of the new location is imminent: renters with deeper pockets, are prepared to pay higher rents than Erin Hoops can afford, potentially threatening the club’s viability. Community drop-in requirements create massive needs: insurance, assets as simple as chairs and tables, or as complex as arcade games and pool tables are needed. The wish list of new needs for a once-simple little club providing basketball have exploded into serving the needs of youth in a community on less than a shoestring…

But, by opening the doors to the abandoned public school’s gym, Erin Hoops has experienced the reality expressed in the Kevin Costner film, “Field of Dreams”, if you build it…they will come. Erin Hoops’ expanding operations are now becoming Erin’s field of dreams.

To find out when the gym is open so you can visit us, click the Basketball Schedule on the HOME page.