Regina's Indigenous Christian Fellowship gets help with roof replacement

The leaky roof at the Indigenous Christian Fellowship is finally getting fixed up thanks to the help of a Regina trades training program.

The church, which has been operating for just over 45 years, relies solely on donations to provide weekly meals to the community and other programming.

It purchased its current building at 3131 Dewdney Ave. in 1995, and executive director Bert Adema said the church has been having issues for years with a leaky roof. The estimated cost of repairs was upwards of $60,000.

The church was planning on fundraising to pay for the repairs, until a local business owner nominated the church for a roof replacement through the Regina Trades and Skills Centre, a program that prepares students for the workforce by building their skills with hands-on training. 

"It makes a big difference to us if we save 80 per cent on a project because then that allows us to use that money for other things," Adema said. 

The skills program practises giving back to the community by offering to do repairs for free in exchange for hands-on learning. 

Operations manager Melissa Dobrowolski said the Regina Trades and Skills Centre has helped 92 per cent of its students gain employment, and after a year 88 per cent are still employed. 

"We look for projects in the community with local not-for-profits, and we go out and we partner with them so they can provide us with a job site and a project for students to learn hands-on," she said.

Dobrowolski said selecting the Indigenous Christian Fellowship for the program was a no-brainer. 

"It's just a phenomenal organization and the money that they save can be used toward additional programming," she said. 

The skills program also worked with community partners to save on the costs of materials for the project. 

The roof repairs, which are being led by trainer and M&M Roof Repairs and Maintenance owner Mitch Kot, are expected to be complete early next week.