Mission accomplished: Lighthouse raises funds for new boiler in less than day
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2019 (2364 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
As temperatures drop, Manitobans have shown they have warm hearts.
It took less than 24 hours for residents to come up with the $50,000 that Lighthouse Mission needed to turn the heat back on at the downtown Winnipeg soup kitchen.
On Wednesday, the mission at 669 Main St. called for donations, after its old steam boiler broke and needed to be replaced (at a cost ranging from $45,000 to $58,000). On Thursday, mission officials thanked donors who responded within 24 hours.
“People in Winnipeg and around Manitoba have shown their generosity,” said Lighthouse spokeswoman Beverly Ajtay. “It’s incredible.
“We’ve had people dropping off cheques here, and donations are coming in online through e-transfers,” Ajtay said, as the repair work was underway at the designated heritage building.
“It’s going to take a little bit of time. We have the team that came in and gave us the bad news… here working to do what’s needed to restore the heat.”
On average, 250 people go to the mission for breakfast and lunch daily.
Lighthouse Mission was established in 1911 to help Winnipeg’s less fortunate, providing “spiritual care” and meeting immediate needs. Today, it provides meals and fellowship to hundreds of Winnipeg’s most vulnerable residents struggling with poverty and homelessness.
It has occupied the Zimmerman Block since the mid-1970s. The aging location is in need of major renovations.
Before the boiler broke, the Christian charity had launched a capital campaign hoping to raise $100,000 for repairs and upgrades. Currently, more than half of the interior remains unusable.
Because it’s a designated heritage building, extra care has to be taken to ensure proper guidelines are met during renovation, which comes at an increased cost, the mission’s capital campaign said.
As of Thursday, that campaign had raised just $5,046.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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History
Updated on Thursday, October 24, 2019 9:09 PM CDT: Adds photos