Emergency pledge for future drop-in centre

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Following an unsuccessful attempt to acquire $25,000 from the town thur far, Waldo Munoz approached Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt to help organize an emergency pledge drive, to raise the necessary funds and inch the vision of a Strathmore drop-in centre closer to reality.
Munoz had been in discussions with the Harvest Healing Centre Church regarding setting up a drop-in centre within the facilities. However, to qualify for insurance coverage, the building, which hasn’t been fully completed yet, needs to meet certain requirements, including building separate bathrooms for males and females. In order to ensure the requirements are met and get the drop-in centre up and running, an estimated $25,000 is required.
“The last little while, outside of my shop, I find people sleeping there all the time,” said Waldo Munoz, owner of Waldo Imaging, as well as the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Strathmore. “The ball is starting to roll, but what we are afraid of is once Christmas passes, people are going to forget about this stuff. Right now it’s touching everybody’s hearts.”
Furthermore, $125,000 would be needed to hire a full-time staff member – a mental health professional – and keep operations running for a full year. According to Munoz, the church’s insurance would not allow individuals to stay overnight.
“We need $25,000 just to get it up and running as it is, and then insurance will insure us, without that the insurance will not look at us,” he said. “I just wanted to help, but now things are starting to take off. It feels good to do something for the community, because the community has been pretty good to me.”
Community members have already dropped off food items, and even donated a pig. If the Harvest Healing Centre Church facility works out, three large rooms could accommodate a total of 12 people, and even more through the use of bunk-beds. Regardless of the outcome, the church will forge ahead with a soft opening of a soup kitchen on Jan. 2. It will feature soup, sandwich, a cup of coffee and a scone, every Saturday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
“Until we have the funds in place we can’t go forward, because we don’t have the money to do it,” said Susan Ruzek, a member of the church who will help run the soup kitchen.
“The soup kitchen is going ahead regardless of whether or not the drop-in centre goes ahead. I think there is a demand for this, and this is based on somewhere between 50 to 75 families come in to get bread a week. And that’s telling me it’s a demand and it’s a growing demand.”
After Munoz approached town council with the issue, council said they wanted to see him coordinate with services in Strathmore and asked him to work with town administration to provide more detail. He was also urged to come back before council at a later date. Munoz said a business plan is currently in the works. However, in hopes of moving the project forward quickly as the weather turns colder, Munoz approached Wildrose Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt to help with the dilemma. In turn, Fildebrandt started setting up an emergency pledge drive at his office to take donations and food items.
“Growing communities also come with growing social problems,” said Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt. “We’re trying to make it a full-blown drop-in centre. We’re going to run an emergency pledge drive out of my office, but you’re trying to work your way through a big bureaucracy, and it’s a slow-moving beast.”
Harvest Healing Centre Church representatives were scheduled to appear before council to discuss the issue on Dec. 16. To make a donation to the project call 403-934-4400.