MOOSE JAW — Riverside Mission focuses on serving the community with shelter, food and clothing, and contrary to some online postings, it offers these services free of charge, the organization’s executive director says.
Joe Miller with Souls Harbour Rescue Mission (SHRM) spoke to the Moose Jaw Express/SaskToday.ca recently about the forthcoming project to build Riverside Mission a new $4-million home at 212 and 218 River Street West.
He also called out the Good Neighbours Group — which is opposed to the project — for making online posts saying the non-profit charges fees before Moose Jaw men can use the shelter.
“That’s just inaccurate information,” he said.
Food
SHRM has reviewed the project and asked how it can take Riverside Mission’s core services of food, clothing, and shelter and enhance them, Miller said.
The new venue — 720 square metres/8,000 square feet in size — will continue to provide free lunches and suppers from Monday to Friday and will have a commercial kitchen to cook healthy meals for people facing food insecurity, he continued.
Currently, the non-profit feeds 20 to 30 people at lunch and 40 to 75 people at dinner, a trend that is expected to continue. Also, the new dining area will be slightly bigger, while meals will continue to be served buffet-style.
“The people we serve are not your traditional people that would show up at a soup kitchen, for lack of a better name,” Miller remarked, noting more immigrants, seniors and apartment tenants — and not just homeless or addicts — are using the food services.
“The meal services in the new facility will be available for anyone. It’s tough right now with inflation to (live and) put a good meal on your table,” he continued. “And if we can help address that, that would be fantastic.
“Meal services will be the No. 1 priority in this facility.”
Riverside Mission will not serve meals on the weekends — it currently doesn’t — but will continue to support other community groups that do and help fill any outstanding gaps.
The new building will become a regional distribution hub for food, as SHRM will “take the plethora of food donations” it receives — semi-loads of product — and share them with other non-profits, food banks, reserves and “like-minded charities” around southern Saskatchewan, Miller said.
The organization can handle only so much food at its Regina venue because it has limited freezer and cooler space. Conversely, the new Riverside Mission building will have three times the freezer and cooler space compared to its Queen City partner.
Clothing
SHRM’s Regina location receives plenty of clothing donations at its “store,” which allows clients to shop and take whatever they want for free — a feature that the donor base appreciates, said Miller.
However, because the organization receives more clothing than it can handle, it will use Riverside Mission’s new building as another distribution centre, he continued. Any excess clothing that remains will be bailed and donated to charities — orphanages or women’s centres — in third-world countries.
Shelter
The new men’s shelter will see a small increase in its capacity — to 12 from 10 — while it will continue to be an alcohol- and drug-free space, said Miller.
Furthermore, the organization will help men find permanent housing, create a resumé, dress well for job interviews and support their reintegration into the community so they can build a new life and be good citizens, he continued.
Twelve spaces is a number that the non-profit can manage comfortably, that is sufficient and that offers good value, while it also reflects the size of Moose Jaw’s population and the number of men who need housing support, Miller stated. In comparison, SHRM’s Regina-based shelter can house 24 men.
Meanwhile, his staff is not trained to deal with mental health challenges, and instead, the organization refers clients to other community-based services.
“I do not have the funds to hire people that can help people with a mental health issue,” he remarked.
Miller pointed out that Riverside Mission’s shelter has rarely reached maximum capacity. For example, three to four men use the space in the summer, while six to eight use it in the winter.
The executive director added that Riverside Mission could offer addiction-focused services in the future, but that would happen when SHRM constructs another building on the adjacent property in phase 2.
Office space
SHRM plans to construct modern, technology-enhanced offices and a board room in the new building and let other non-profits and community-based organizations in Moose Jaw use those spaces for free, Miller said. This will ensure clients have the wraparound services — health, education, employment — they require.
The organization also has a professional counsellor on staff in Regina who will be available for free to support the marginalized in Moose Jaw.
Miller added that shovels should be in the ground this fall, with concrete and piles installed before winter arrives.
