The Sparks Youth Centre (formerly Lee Haskell Centre) in Kimberley is the longest running youth centre in the province of British Columbia.

Manager Bev Middlebrook is constantly fielding calls from communities around the province asking how they do it - how do they keep going when so many other youth centres fail to make it?

The answer lately is with a lot of sweat, tears and worry. Funding, always in short supply, is becoming more and more difficult.

Indeed, Middlebrook and board member Tim Park say without the solid support of the City of Kimberley, which grants them $25,000 yearly, the centre's doors would have been shut a long time ago.

But it costs about $100,000 a year to run the centre, and with granters less and less enamoured of funding operational costs, it is an uphill battle.

"All non-profits are struggling," Middlebrook said. "Everyone is after the same dollars. It's very competitive."

What Middlebrook and Park want to convey to the community at large is that the services the youth centre provides are needed, and valuable.

"It is a place where youth can bond, grow together, mentor each other. Nobody in this community should be left behind or not taken care of," Park said.

"It's more than a drop in centre. It's a centre of opportunity where youth can find safety, a sense of family and help as they transfer into adulthood," Middlebrook said. "It's needed even if it's just a handful of youth. We need to be there for them."

The rest of the funding for the Centre comes through grants, which are getting harder to find, and more difficult to write every year.

"The City is very supportive of the Centre," Park said. "Without their grant we would have to close our doors. It gives us the opportunity to wait for other grants to come through."

But Middlebrook says that the constant waiting to see if you got another grant to keep your doors open a little longer is stressful, not just for the staff but for the youth who depend on the Centre.

Currently the Centre operates a used book store and runs Bladerunners, a provincial youth employment and life skills program.

Middlebrook says they are contemplating renting the centre out for functions.

"It's a nice space, it has a stage, and will seat about 50 people. It's a good place for small gatherings."

She has recently written two mental health grants, which she is hopeful of getting. With support from the Columbia Basin Trust, Youthstock was held this past Saturday, a day of bands and DJ's competing for small prizes outdoors at Rotary Park.

And she and the board will continue fighting to keep the doors open.

"The Youth Centre is really important to these kids. I've seen youth grow up there. They need a sense of family and safety. And we will do anything we can to hang in there."