The North End Family Centre (NEFC) will close in October, but those involved with the ministry say the legacy will last for a while. 

NEFC announced on Tuesday that they were closing their doors for good on October 4, citing debt, a reduction in funding streams, and organizational issues.

Jamie Buhler, current executive director of NEFC, has seen how much the centre means to the community.

"It was a very tightknit group," Buhler said. "It was more like a family than anything else."

Not just the community, Buhler said, but also the resources available like laundry, the shop, computers, and hygiene items will be lost in the area.

"This was not a stale, dry centre to receive services and go on your way," Buhler explained.

Buhler is confident that relationships in the community will continue, and hopes that people will find existing supports in the community.

Kyle Mason, however, says those supports don't exist in the community.

"There is no other organization, other ministry, in that part of the city that does what (NEFC) does," said the founder and former executive director of NEFC. "The heart of it was family, belonging, community."

Mason stepped away from the ministry this past December and was shocked to find out that the ministry would be closing its doors just a year later.

"I was trying to step out of the way so we could go bigger and better," he explained. "Obviously, that wasn't the case."

Mason believes the community will suffer the most with the closure of NEFC.

"We know for a fact that a lot of lives were changed for the better," Mason said, mentioning stories of community members getting out of poverty, receiving hope, connecting to resources, and coming to faith. "It brought a true sense of community and belonging to a part of the city that sometimes lacks that.

"It is going to leave a significant gap in the neighbourhood and sadly, the community will pay the highest price."

The full impact of the centre may not be known for decades, Mason said.