The 705 is going 24 to raise funds for its full-time fight against addiction.
Beginning 8 a.m. Saturday, the 705 Recovery Community Centre launched its fourth annual 24-Hour Window Raise-a-Thon in downtown Barrie.
“Community is said to be the opposite of addiction. We ran with that,” said Jorden Mathias, one of four members of the recovery community who spent the day sitting in one of the windows at 56 Dunlop St. W., raising money.
On July 20, Mathias, 47, will celebrate nine years of sobriety from drugs and alcohol.
“It’s very wonderful. It’s given me a life that I never knew,” said Mathias, a contractor specializing in bathroom and kitchen renovations who has lived in and around Barrie for his entire life.
The 705 Recovery Community Centre serves as a recovery hub for self-help and recovery groups to connect, hold events, meetings and support groups to aid those experiencing addiction and alcoholism. It serves approximately 300 people a week. Barrie saw 60 opioid overdoses in 2022, local health officials have said.
It costs about $4,200 a month to run the downtown centre, and the 24-Hour Window Raise-a-Thon has a goal of $20,000.
Saskia Paquette, helping fundraise for the 705 on Saturday, said it works on a system of pranks and rewards.
Rewards are the window-sitter getting their cellphone bill paid, headphones, an hour nap, tea, coffee, any snacks they would like, a meal, a walk, some fresh air or face time with family.
“Pranks are the best part,” Paquette said. “Our most popular is pie in the face for $50. We can do makeup, costumes. We also do a truth or dare, which is based on the approval of the person that’s getting targeted, and then we also do the chicken dance … on the street.
“That is also really popular,” she said.
Each pledge or prank comes with a donation to the 705 cause.
Mathias said the centre works on a basic level, sometimes.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, people like myself, like-minded people, who reached out for help really had nowhere to go,” he said. “So, friends of mine, including myself, we built this centre and at a certain point it was deemed essential.
“So, even though distancing was in full effect, we had a safe place to go where we could share our lived experiences and help one another.”
The centre’s doors have been open since September 2020, thanks to donations and private donors. But financial resources are running low, supporters say.
The centre is awaiting full charitable status so it can apply for official funding in the long term. Until then, it needs fundraisers like Saturday’s to stay afloat.
For more information or to donate, visit the705barrie.com.
