Detox beds on Lighthouse list

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This article was published 17/05/2023 (890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A downtown Winnipeg soup kitchen that feeds hundreds daily has a big change on its plate.

Lighthouse Mission, which has two buildings on Main Street, wants to offer more than hearty meals to the city’s vulnerable; it wants to open detox beds to help people hard hit by addiction.

“We’re going to do our part in helping those who come in for a sandwich and then maybe find an opportunity at a new life,” said director Peter McMullen, adding they’ll be limited-use beds, but the measure would increase detox capacity in the city.

The mission is currently seeking funding for the project.

“I think there’s going to be some significant progress towards it, probably inside this next year… indications are looking that way,” he said.

McMullen called it a “natural fit” to combine front-line supports, such as food and basic necessities, with an option for addiction treatment.

“I’m going to say 90 to 100 per cent of (the people) coming through our door, have had their lives affected by addiction,” he said. “They are either active in addiction or maybe they grew up in a household of addiction and they never really got the start they needed in life.”

End Homelessness Winnipeg president Jason Whitford said the city doesn’t have enough detox options, especially since many people seek help more than once before succeeding.

Hosting beds at a place with deep roots in the community, such as Lighthouse, could be especially beneficial.

“A person is more inclined to utilize a resource if they have a familiar face, a familiar location, an existing, trusting relationship established,” he said.

Lighthouse has two buildings: a soup kitchen at 669 Main St. and a daytime drop-in centre next door, where people can pick up essentials such as hygiene products and clothing.

On Tuesday, it was one of 428 community projects to receive a share of $25 million from the Manitoba’s Building Sustainable Communities program.

It will get $300,000 to make crucial repairs to the soup kitchen, including on its ventilation and floors to bring it up to modern standards.

“It’s all so old, and it’s starting to fall apart,” McMullen said.

“It was time for a new upgrade and refresh. As the need for the homeless to come in and get meals and basic requirements has increased, our capacity hasn’t. So this is just going to improve the way we serve our community.”

It’s a small step; McMullen estimates both buildings need to undergo repairs that would cost three times as much, and developing two unused floors in the three-storey buildings to hold detox beds, will be a major project.

“That’s going to be an entirely different animal, because we’re going to (need) to significantly increase our operational capacity. In other words, we’re going to need new staff, we’re going to have a different style of operation,” he said. “So we’re always seeking new levels of funding to try to really have the maximum impact we can.”

Lighthouse isn’t unique in terms of the need for repairs. Siloam Mission has a fundraising campaign to make heating, air conditioning and other repairs to its transitional housing on Evanson Street in Wolseley.

“You can’t deliver programming and support and keep people safe if your heating system fails, or you have a plumbing leak or a leaky roof,” Whitford said. “The funding that organizations need for operations is just as fundamental as their the services that they provide.”

The need for those services spiked massively during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have persisted as the cost of living increases, McMullen said.

“We have almost doubled the amount of hot meals we serve, and we’ve sustained that higher level,” he said. “Whereas certain times during the month, we may have seen lulls in the need for our service, and quieter times when people were using our service less, those lulls are almost non-existent now.”

Today, Lighthouse serves around 700 meals a day. McMullen said before the pandemic, volunteers made soup to feed 250 people and would sometimes have to refrigerate leftovers.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca