It’s a vision the late Gerri Carroll dreamed of, and on Wednesday, that dream became a reality.
Souls Harbour Rescue Mission opened its newest facility, replacing their Halifax Street location.
“Gerri formed Souls Harbour Mission House in 1990. She was basically feeding people and clothing them,” said Joe Miller, executive director of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission.
Carroll passed away in 2006, but her memory lives on — not only through the lives she’s touched, but through her new centre.
The 17-unit affordable housing complex provides a place to live for city’s most vulnerable.
Their commercial kitchen will feed hundreds a day and will be used for their 2019 Souls Sister Catering initiative, run by women in their addictions program.
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“The ladies will not only learn a variety of basic job skills, but it will teach them how to become entrepreneurs,” Miller said.
The $8 million project doubles the capacity of the men’s emergency shelter from 12 to 24 and includes Souls Harbour’s second daycare, providing 54 new spaces.
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Funding came from the federal and provincial government, along with the City of Regina and various groups, businesses and organizations around Saskatchewan.
“The environmental integrity in this building is quite amazing in how it’s been designed with energy efficiency in mind,” said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
The building features solar panels on the roof and window frames made of fiberglass.
Furnaces are also being used instead of a boiler — cutting their operating costs by about 60 per cent.
“It’s an amazing facility. Souls Harbour and Rescue Mission, now combined, have done just an incredible job in this community for a long time,” Goodale said.
The location on Halifax Street will operate until Christmas Eve. The shelter and the meal program will be open at Gerri Carroll Hope Centre the same day.
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