Basement flood forces Winnipeg soup kitchen to close its doors

A soup kitchen that feeds hundreds of Winnipeg's less fortunate every week has been forced to close its doors after a burst pipe flooded and destroyed a number of expensive items in the building last week.

"It was a bit of a blow," said Joel Cormie, operations manager at Lighthouse Mission located on Main Street near Higgins Avenue. "The hard reality is that it is going to affect people that we serve each day here."

There was about a third of a meter of water in the basement after a drain that runs underneath the building was crushed nearby late last week, Cormie said. The building has been without water ever since.

The flood destroyed 10 freezers, three fridges, a washer and dryer, boiler, toilet and sound equipment, Cormier said. The 95 turkeys, 70 packages of boneless chicken breasts, 25 packages of ground beef, 55 kilograms of sausage and 12 pork loins that were in the freezers were almost destroyed, too.

"Fortunately we were able to donate all of the food before it thawed out from the freezers to other agencies in the area so it wasn't wasted," Cormie said.

Cormie is in talks with the organization's insurance provider currently but he estimates damages will be in the range of $35,000 to $50,000.

Lighthouse Mission hopes to raise at least $20,000 in the short-term in order to be able to reopen.

"Our first priority is always for the community that we serve," Cormie said, adding Lighthouse Mission has put up posters and reached out to its clients to let them know of alternative shelters in the area where they can get what they need.

"We're looking forward to when we can reopen…. In the meantime we're surrounded with a lot of friends and agencies that are able to pull the extra weight while we're down."

Donations can be made on the Lighthouse Mission website or by calling 204-943-9669. Money raised will go toward replacing equipment and food lost in the flood, Cormie added.