Two more municipalities will be donating money to Viola’s Place.
Councillors with the Town of Pictou voted unanimously to give the board of the directors for Viola’s Place Society a $1,000 donation toward their quest to open a permanent homeless shelter in the county.
The society had asked Pictou for a grant of $3,333, but Pictou Mayor Jim Ryan said while he commended the work the volunteer board was doing, he still had issues with a revised operating plan submitted to the town this past weekend.
He said he would like see “quantitative data” in terms of need for such a shelter and he questioned the sustainability of the plan with an operation budget of $90,000 in addition to maintenance needed on the building after it is purchased.
“I don't have a problem with the principles they are trying to do,” Ryan said. “They are trying to take care of people who are vulnerable and need help.”
Viola’s Place Society has to raise $60,000 by the end of April to purchase the former Life Shelter church which it wants to transform into a permanent homeless shelter. The Town of New Glasgow and the Municipality of Pictou County have also contributed to the society’s capital plan for the building. Donations have also been received from people across Canada in addition to the support of local businesses.
Stellarton town council approved a request from Viola’s Place for a one-time capital grant of $5,000 for the shelter during its Monday meeting. This grant money was provided after council received further information on the shelter in February.
Mayor Danny MacGillivray said that when representatives for the shelter first brought the matter before council, he and the other council members had a couple of issues they wanted to address before they agreed to funding.
One of those issues at the time was the lack of an operational plan. Council feared that the lack of a plan would result in cost overruns and compromise financial feasibility for the project. At council’s April 23 meeting, representatives for Viola’s place provided a capital plan.
“It’s aggressive, but realistic,” said MacGillivray.
A secondary concern relating to capital that council had was the size of the building and the cost of upkeep. That concern was also allayed by the capital plan provided to council, showing $18-19,000 for maintenance and repairs.
“Hopefully, with help from contractors, they will keep that budget in line,” MacGillivray said.
MacGillivray said another issue was the fact that some Stellarton residents were skeptical that homelessness is a local issue, but “thankfully, you guys (The News) raised awareness last week, showing that homelessness is a problem in Pictou County.”
Karen MacPhee, chair of Viola’s Place Society, said she realizes that councils were given short time to study its revised proposal, but she has followed Truro’s model closely in terms of hiring staff if grant money is available and depending largely on volunteers to do maintenance at the shelter as well as be involved in its day-to-day operations.
Hub House in Truro moved into a permanent location this past fall and has served 65 different people so far. It has three employees hired by two government grants and a third through the United Way who works as a community navigator to help guests of the shelter get back on their feet, offering support in such situations as talking to landlords or on trips to community services or court appointments.
MacPhee said society members are willing to speak to councils anytime about their plans for the building and its operations to address any concerns they might have in the future.
As it works toward its fundraising goal of purchasing the former Life Shelter, she said it is getting plenty of Interest from the community in regard to people willing to volunteer.
MacPhee said the board is doing its best to keep up with the response and will get in touch with everyone who has either emailed them or put a message on Facebook.
Donations to Viola’s Place Society can be made at any Scotiabank in Pictou County.
