Saskatoon Mothers’ Centre crowdfunding to keep doors open

Janelle Thomas said before having her son, she was in a dark place and dealing with addictions.

“He prompted me to pull my life together while I was pregnant with him and just provide a better future for both myself and him,” Thomas said.

Thomas found support at the Saskatoon Mothers’ Centre when her son was born two years ago.

“For me, it’s like going to my friend’s house. I can go, I can help myself to coffee. I can come and sit and engage in conversations. I don’t know how (many) connections I’ve made just sitting on these couches and talking about things that are important to a mother, a parent,” Thomas said.

At the end of 2015, the Saskatoon Mothers’ Center found out they would lose major funding, which would impact operations and capacity. The centre, based out of Station 20 West, has been fundraising ever since.

The Mothers’ Centre said they are just trying to keep its doors open, turning to a GoFundMe page for help to pay the rent.

The page had raised $3,575 of the $5,500 goal as of Wednesday afternoon.

The group said it’s trying to get by until it expects to receive charitable status in March, which will make it eligible for charitable support and allow the organization to issue tax receipts.

“Being in the central core area of the five core neighbourhoods is very important because we have mothers coming in from all walks of life,” Mothers’ Centre hostess Della Kinequon said.

Volunteers said the Mothers’ Centre is open five days a week and offers valuable services such as peer mentoring, breastfeeding support, mom and kid cooking clubs and sewing circles.

“The people are coming, staying here, sitting, drinking coffee and enjoying here, like a family. All the sisters sitting together are our family,” Rahilah Karimi, the food coordinator at the Mothers’ Centre, said.

“We just all come together, like it’s in our motto, together we’re stronger,” Thomas said.

In a statement, the Saskatchewan Health Authority in Saskatoon said they don’t pay the rent for the Mothers’ Centre, but do fund staff members and are providing transitional funding to assist the centre in becoming self-sufficient by June 2018 or earlier.