Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Bittersweet was a word used by several different people at the Lennox and Addington County’s warming centre on Sunday as staff and volunteers held a small gathering to mark the end of its inaugural season.
The calendar flip from March to April meant the warming centre would cease operations until next winter. First opened in January, the centre was well used this season with over 100 individuals using the room located inside the Napanee Area Community Health Centre to rest or get a meal when they had nowhere else to go on a cold winter’s night.
“This is a bittersweet time for us,” said Kevin Alkenbrack, executive director at Morningstar Mission who helped spearhead the project and get the centre up and running. “We know when 7 p.m. comes (April 1) there’s not going to be anywhere for anyone to go. It’s a sad moment but we have to take our victories where they are and we have to get our energy where we can. This was a huge victory for our community.”
Teaming with the County of Lennox and Addington as well as the United Way, the warming centre was born quickly following a homeless symposium held in October at the Strathcona Paper Centre. From there around 100 community volunteers put up their hand, agreeing to help cover the hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each night this past winter to make the shelter operational.
“What is really going to make the difference in the long run for our community, were the volunteers,” said Alkenbrack. “There are many people here who sat at this table for six to 12 hours at a time to make sure we could be open.”
Sunday evening’s weather, which saw below freezing temperatures and a steady snow shower, were a perfect reminder that just because the centre is closed for the season doesn’t mean the problem of homelessness will disappear in the county. April will still see its share of chilly nights, but funding for the year has run out.
To that point Alkenbrack said there is a planned meeting on April 15 from 6-8 p.m. at Morningstar Mission for members of the community to talk and listen about plans going forward for more permanent solutions. In the meantime, the shelter is slated to re-open next winter as they continue to search for longterm solutions.
“We’re just blessed that people used this space,” said Alkenbrack. “They came, they gave us data, they volunteered to be counted so that we can go back to places like the county, the province, even the federal government some day to be able to say Napanee has a need and we can prove it.”