1JustCity’s West End site opens its doors for first time on weekends to homeless

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This article was published 09/01/2021 (2077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

1JUSTCITY’S washrooms and dining room for hot lunches will not just be open on weekdays this winter for the city’s homeless to use.

Josh Ward, 1JustCity’s community facilitator, said Saturday its West End site in the St. Matthews-Maryland Community Ministry, at 365 McGee St., will now be open on Saturday and Sunday through the winter until May.

Ward said it’s the first time in the organization’s 40 years of helping the community the site will be open on weekends. It will be open from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

“We will be open to May for now, and we have the funding for next winter too, but we are hoping to receive funding to allow us to keep it going year round,” Ward said.

“We’ve been wanting to open on weekends for awhile and now, with End Homelessness Winnipeg, supplying us with the funds we can… we thought it was super important to open on weekends this year because so much of what our guests rely on to stay warm or use washrooms are closed because of COVID.”

Ward said, because of COVID-19, people who come in to use their services will be physically distanced while eating the lunch and the seven washrooms it has will be sanitized by staff and volunteers after each use.

He said washrooms are an essential need for the community they serve, especially when the pandemic has closed the doors of many publicly accessible places.

“We want there to be some dignity for people so they don’t have to go in an alley,” Ward said.

End Homelessness Winnipeg was created in May 2015, after the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council and United Way Winnipeg put together a task force to come up with a plan to end homelessness. Its funders are the City of Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the United Way, and the Manitoba and federal governments.

1JustCity’s member charities are Oak Table, West Broadway Community Services, and the St. Matthews-Maryland Community Ministry.

It helps more than 15,000 people annually.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca