Above watch: Souls Harbour rescue mission in Halifax has officially been awarded $100,000 for a new kitchen. Ray Bradshaw reports.
HALIFAX – Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Halifax was officially awarded $100,000 for a new kitchen on Tuesday as part of an Aviva Insurance program that helps community projects across Canada.
Representatives including Gordon Murray, Aviva’s vice-president of business development in Atlantic Canada, were on hand to deliver the cheque.
“For all the work that you do, here’s a cheque. Congratulations,” Murray said.
Michelle Porter, the founding director of the mission, thankfully accepted the cheque.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to get a giant novelty cheque,” she said. “I’m probably going to have that in my office for years to come on the wall.”
The Aviva program had a competition component that asked people to vote on a project they thought should receive the funding.
Ken and Michelle Porter have been operating Souls Harbour for almost four years. They started serving 20 meals a day, but that ballooned to about 100 a day along with extra meals for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Their kitchen was too small and they needed a new one to meet their needs.
“We are serving 25,000 meals every year at Souls Harbour and so, to get a brand new kitchen, not only does it make us more efficient, but it allows us to increase that number,” said Michelle Porter.
She said pans have already been drawn up and construction will begin soon.
“We’re actually demolishing our old kitchen in June and thanks to Aviva and voters, mostly from the Maritimes, we’re going to have a brand new commercialized kitchen before the summer’s up.”
Porter worked hard urging people on social media to vote for Souls Harbour. She said a volunteer encouraged her to apply to Aviva.
“Anybody can make a difference,” she said. “We’ve got someone who works an hour a day and it was because of her that we now have $100,000 for a new kitchen.”
Murray said Aviva has donated about $5.5 million to participating charities in six years of operation.
Souls Harbour will remain open during renovations and serve meals that don’t need to be heated during the summer, such as sandwiches and fresh fruit. When the new kitchen opens, the mission will also be open on Saturdays.
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