The door to funding will open when the temperature outside drops.
When and if the temperature descends to 5 degrees Celsius or lower, the Salvation Army’s Lighthouse Shelter will receive funds from provincial coffers towards its 16 shelter beds.
The provincial government has just issued its annual news release stating that provincial taxes will be disbursed to fund ‘extreme weather shelter spaces’ to ensure people who are homeless have access to a safe, warm place to stay during nights of severe weather.
The news release states “the Extreme Weather Response program enables communities to temporarily increase emergency shelter capacity during extreme weather conditions.”
It states the funding will provide for 12 spaces in Salmon Arm.
Dave Byers, community services co-ordinator with the Salvation Army in Salmon Arm, says the shelter currently provides 16 beds from Nov. 1 through March, and the funding the province refers to for Salmon Arm would help support 12 of the 16 – not 12 additional beds. He notes there is no space for more beds.
Byers says the funding is available when the temperature reaches five degrees or lower, or if it’s zero, with precipitation.
“If it’s zero and there’s precipitation, we can put in for it.”
Otherwise, he says, funding comes from Salvation Army resources.
“We pay it out of kettle money and whatever we can muster.”
Because the shelter is co-ed, he says a man and woman must staff it every night, which costs money. The pair must stay all night, something which volunteers aren’t keen to do.
“So we would like to have some volunteers as well. It would cut back on staffing costs.”
He says the shelter opens at 6:30 in the evening, and people can check in up to 11 p.m. It stays open till 7:30 a.m. From 6 to 8 p.m. those staying receive a meal, as well as a continental-type breakfast in the morning.
“A lot of our guys come in cold and hungry and we have to be able to do both,” Byers says of the two meals.
And the people who stay aren’t just guys.
“I don’t know if a day went by (last winter) when we didn’t have at least one (woman),” Byers said, noting that some nights there were five or six.
If you would like to volunteer at the shelter, contact the Salvation Army at 250-832-9194 or drop by the shelter and food bank at 441 Third St. SW, next to the indoor arena.
Also needed are people to take charge of the Christmas Kettles.
“We really, really need some help with that,” says Byers. “Six days a week, Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., only two-hour shifts.”
Volunteers can also team up at one kettle, with each doing an hour.
Byers said donations are down, while the need, both for the shelter and for the food bank, is greater than ever.