More than 100 people marched in downtown Saskatoon Saturday morning, to raise awareness and funds to support the city’s homeless community through Lighthouse Supported Living‘s inaugural March a Mile Walk.
Renovations to the main entrance are underway, and the shelter said it plans to install a metal detector and hire safety officers, who will be on site 24 hours a day.
The new safety measures cost $60,000 and the walk was able to raise the remaining $30,000 needed.
“It’s not exactly like a home, but we really want to keep the 215 people who are under our roof every night safe,” fundraising coordinator Susan Scharf said.
The safety initiatives are to ensure weapons and drugs are kept out of the facility.
“What we’ve observed in the past six, seven months is a plethora of crystal meth in Saskatoon,” Scharf said.
“The actions of a crystal meth addict are not something you can reason with. We see vandalism — there’s random violence — we see all sorts of very undesirable things happening.”
“Issues like homelessness, mental health and the people who are on the streets, it’s a matter of a health concern, not a criminal concern,” Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said.
Organizers said they started the March a Mile Walk this year, so that 100 per cent of the funds raised go towards Saskatoon’s homeless population.
Saskatoon philanthropists Les and Irene Dube matched community donations up to $15,000 for the march.
“All of that goes towards making sure those who have the least in our community have a safe place to sleep, have meals and hopefully the supports to get back on their feet,” Clark added.
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