Centre of Hope offers early Christmas meal, warm place to sleep for homeless Winnipeggers

As the holidays approach and the mercury dips, shelters and soup kitchens across Manitoba are gearing up for a busy several days.

The Salvation Army's Centre of Hope in Winnipeg was expecting more than 600 people for its first Christmas dinner Wednesday night, and they're planning to feed hundreds more over the next few days.

Centre of Hope executive director Mark Stewart said the return of Wednesday's big, annual dinner was significant.

"It's very special for us because we haven't been able to do this for a couple of years," he said.

In the years prior to the pandemic, as many as 1,400 people showed up to the centre at the corner of Main Street and Henry Avenue for a hearty Christmas meal, Stewart said.

The centre prepared more than 1,000 meals this year, which included about 1,200 pounds of turkey.

Stewart said the centre will also be feeding 300 people from Lighthouse Mission on Thursday evening. And before that, the centre will be picking up an ambulance and visiting some of the city's homeless camps, giving out 150 meals.

"It's a gift that we can give back to our community just to say that we care about you," he said. "You're worth something, and we just want to show you dignity."

The centre will also prepare a Christmas Day dinner for everybody who lives in the building, and give each of them a gift.

Overnight beds available

The centre, which has over 345 bed spaces for adults and children each night, also wants to give people shelter as temperatures in the city dip below –20 C, and colder with the wind chill factored in, for the next few nights.

Stewart said the centre is working with other non-profit community organizations such as Siloam Mission and End Homelessness Winnipeg to help provide shelter at night during this cold stretch.

"With the cold weather that is happening right now, we want to make sure that everyone gets in for the warmth," Stewart said.

Homeless people who feel the shelters they stay at overnight will be full, will be directed to the city's largest shelter, Centre of Hope, which Stewart says has had beds available for many months.

He also told CBC that the shelter's emergency cold weather vehicle will start going around in January looking for people freezing in the cold, many of whom are often found inside bus shelters.

A City of Winnipeg spokesperson said in an email that city employees cleaned up two lived-in bus shelters on Wednesday — one at the westbound corner of Portage Avenue and Spence Street, and the other on the eastbound corner of Portage Avenue and Langside Street. 

Inspectors provided information about emergency shelters to the individuals who were inside the shelter at the corner of Spence Street, and were assured that they would be attending a location that is safe and warm, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said bus shelters are cleaned regularly, and that inspectors engage in outreach when people spend longer durations of time in them.