The Executive Director for A Way Home Kamloops is hoping to get an annual source of funding from area municipal governments.

Katherine McParland approached the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) last week, when it appeared they would fall short of its fundraising goal for the Camp Out to End Youth Homelessness, which was held last Friday.

“If one ministry takes on the role of mom and dad, such as the Ministry of Children and Family Development, we need all the other ministries and municipal governments to act like aunties and uncles,” she said.

“It takes all our local community members, our corporate sponsors and everyone coming together, we all have a piece to play.”

She says A Way Home Kamloops was glad they were able to surpass their $50,000 goal thanks to a late surge in donations.

“However, we did set our goal quite low and it was the bare minimum. We know the need is so much more. We had 75 kids on our waiting list last year,” McParland said,  noting that youth homelessness is a regional issue.

“When we conducted our youth homelessness count last year, we identified from young people sharing their experiences that 25 per cent were from the surrounding communities and had relocated to here to Kamloops.”

The TNRD will consider the funding request at a meeting next year.