Souls Harbour Rescue Mission celebrates Easter — and upcoming expansions

Organization will soon open apartment complex on Eastern Shore, new building in Bridgewater

Nicola Seguin · CBC News ·

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission held its first indoor Easter dinner since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with about 400 people coming to drop-in centres across Nova Scotia on Monday. 

The organization provided a free meal to people who needed it in Halifax, Bridgewater and Truro, as well as gift bags full of supplies and toiletries.

Gail Wilson was one of the about 200 people who came to enjoy a meal at the Halifax location, where the line was out the door. She said Souls Harbour always has a positive and supportive atmosphere.

“I lost my husband a few years ago, so holidays are hard,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of emptiness around, so this is good that people can, you know, friends can have dinner together.”

About 15 volunteers worked at the Halifax drop-in centre all weekend to prepare the dinner.

Michelle Porter, CEO of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, said more people are needing help to get by as the cost of living skyrockets.

“It’s been a lot busier,” Porter said. “I mean even on Friday we had 200 people … a lot of new people are coming and I expect that to increase over the summer.”

But she said as demand increases, the mission is working on expanding its reach.

New apartment complex opening in May

Porter said Souls Harbour is opening a 12-unit apartment complex for women and children on the Eastern Shore next month.

She said they’ve been working on getting the building ready for 18 months, and it’s expected to open May 1.

The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation provided $3 million of funding through its Rapid Housing Initiative, which provides financial support to affordable housing projects.

“The people who will be living at the women’s home are a mix of people who are at risk of homelessness,” Porter said. “I would say probably half would be fleeing domestic violence of some kind.”

Michelle Porter said more new people have been coming to the mission asking for help, but many people have been coming for years. (Nicola Seguin/CBC)

Porter said the units are spoken for, and Souls Harbour chose women who needed extra support to get back on their feet. She said classes will be available to the residents, as well as help with buying food and clothing.

Souls Harbour is also expanding in Bridgewater with the purchase of a new building that will house six men and a new store where people in need can shop for free.

“We have a drop-in centre in Bridgewater and it was so fortuitous that the neighbours knocked on our door and said, ‘We’re selling. We’d like to give you first dibs,'” Porter said. “And of course we said yes, and it will be opening in the next couple of months.”

Porter said her organization saw the need for affordable housing and decided to do something about it. She said continuing donations are making the new developments possible.

“I’m just so thankful,” she said. “Across the province, donations have been pouring in and if we didn’t have donations of food and finance, we couldn’t do what we do.”