NEW GLASGOW
A local temporary homeless shelter will be closing its doors in a week.
Donna Cooper, one of the organizers with the temporary shelter at First Baptist United Church, said the East River Road shelter will close its doors for good on April 28.
“We had a good run,” she said. “We didn’t have someone every night, but sometimes some stayed three nights in a row or a week or we had three people together.”
The decision to close the temporary shelter was made because of two reasons, she said. The soon-to-be expected improved weather and the need to return the building to its original use.
“It was temporary and a temporary project needs an end date,” she said, adding the temporary shelter closure might help get plans and support moving along for a permanent shelter.
Viola’s Place Society is working to get a permanent homeless shelter started in Pictou County and the first step is for it to purchase the former Life Shelter building in New Glasgow for $60,000.
As of Friday afternoon, it was about $13,000 short of its goal with the deadline of April 30 fast approaching. Society members said plans on how the New Glasgow centre will operate will need to be firmed up but at this point its focus is on purchasing the building because without a building there is no shelter.
The temporary shelter operated seven days a week since October with the exception for a few nights when they were unable to staff two volunteers at a time.
She praised all of the people who donated their time to the shelter, including the work done five months previous to its opening. She said the centre also developed a good relationship with the local police and hospital who would refer people to the shelter.
“We had people come here after a hospital visit and people from here who were living somewhere else, but had no place to stay here,” she said. “We had people who were passing through and some people from here.”
She said as the centre was temporary there were no showers or washers available, which is something needed in a permanent location.
All the items donated to the temporary shelter will be given to Viola’s Place when the building is purchased and some volunteers at the temporary shelter have expressed interest in volunteering at the permanent location.
She said when the temporary shelter opened, visiting Hub House in Truro helped their research as did speaking with former volunteers from the Life Shelter in New Glasgow, so she and others will be happy to pass along any knowledge that will help with training or operations.
“It was a big job, but we are glad we did it,” Cooper said. “It will be nice to have a proper place for them.”
If anyone needs to see how a permanent homeless shelter operates in a rural community, they need to look no further than Colchester County.
After a few years of operating out of church basements in the Truro area, Hub House now has its own building at 862 Prince St. and people in need are taking full advantage of its services.
“Things are running great,” he said. “We almost reached full capacity last night. We have been over capacity a few times since we opened here. We usually get about 11 people a night and our capacity is 15,” said Dwight Griffiths, operations manager for Hub House.
Hub House was purchased through its own fundraising efforts and currently has three staff hired through grants. It is largely dependent upon volunteers for monitoring the shelter during its open hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. seven days a week. Food donations cover the meals.
Griffiths said guests are provided a meal in the evening as well as breakfast and are given a bag lunch when they leave. A community navigator on staff provides guests with information about community resources so they can start looking for a more permanent home.
“She works with landlords, property owners, social assistance support and we collect donations as well,” he said. “We will pretty much take anything and when someone is ready and gets their ducks in a row, their place can be basically furnished.”
Griffiths said their community navigator has housed nine people from the shelter which is about 90 per cent of the people who agreed to work with her.
People from Pictou County have used their shelter in the past, he said. There are also people passing through the area from the highway. Since it opened its permanent location in November, it has had about 65 people stay.
Griffiths said Hub House has been embraced by the community and local businesses who are often dropping off donations of food, furnishings or donating their time in volunteer hours.
“We can put a call out for anything on Facebook and within an hour we are stocked with it,” he said. “We have our own space so we can store things now. We were in churches for seven years but as the population grows, homelessness grows.”
Anyone wanting more information on Hub House is welcome to contact Griffiths at 902-956-4938.
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