An extreme weather shelter has closed for the season and BETHS (Boundary Emergency and Transitional Housing Society) President Kristine Eyre considers it a success.
Eyre said that the society greatly appreciated the co-operation from citizens, community members and other organizations.
“We had quite a few donations come in which was amazing,” Eyre said.
“We are very grateful for the Christian Centre for opening up their space.”
Eyre was also grateful for the volunteers who provided many hours of service to the shelter –there were 14 volunteers in all.
“We had a good response in that way,” she said. ”Some very dedicated volunteers.”
Since opening, the shelter had an average of two people a night but Eyre said on a few occasions, it had people just stop in to stay warm but not to stay overnight.
Eyre said that they also had great co-operation from the RCMP and other organizations around the community who helped those on the street find the shelter in times of inclement weather.
“This was a trial run and I would say the trial run was effective and definitely successful,” the BETHS president said.
BETHS will be having an annual general meeting on April 19 where some of the board members will change.
Eyre said the tentative plan is to open up the extreme weather response by this November and have it run until March.
“We were a little late in getting it started (this year), however we did get some people in there and out of the cold,” she said. “So next November we should be ready to get going.”
The shelter will once again be at the Christian Centre.
From now until the end of summer, BETHS will concentrate on developing the board and start looking for alternative funding.
Eyre said she would like to see staff hired for next year.
“It’s tentative hiring staff next year instead of running solely on volunteers but again that’s going to be dependent on funding,” she said. The staff would likely consist of a shelter co-ordinator and a homeless outreach worker.