THUNDER BAY — A daytime warming centre that offers the homeless and others a chance to get out of the cold during Thunder Bay’s harsh winters is set to open its doors for a third year in Thunder Bay’s south end.
People Advocating for Change through Empowerment (PACE) — a mental health and addictions advocacy group — says it will again operate its Victoria Avenue warming centre, which it calls crucial and potentially life-saving.
Georgina McKinnon, PACE’s executive director, said Thursday the organization hadn’t yet secured funding but was hopeful an application it recently submitted would soon be approved.
In the meantime, McKinnon said PACE staff “have stepped up to the plate” to ensure the warming centre opens its doors on cold days.
“They’re going above and beyond,” she said. “They’ve agreed to work extra shifts, long hours, and volunteer time in order to keep this going. We feel the weight on our shoulders when we go home at night.”
PACE reported the centre was visited between 75 and over 100 times per day in previous years.
McKinnon was optimistic an application for more than $100,000 in funding to support the service, including opening it as a cooling centre in summer, would get the green light.
“I’m fairly confident we will receive the funding, because it is a necessary program,” she said.
McKinnon estimates it costs roughly $85,000 to $100,000 a year to operate the warming centre, with expenses like staffing, heating, bus tickets, and snacks. The centre also offers donated winter clothes and computer access.
The centre also provides employment opportunities, with McKinnon saying PACE hired at least half a dozen former warming centre users to staff the program last year.
“It helps people get on their feet, because we hire people who are in recovery," she said. "A lot of times it’s their first job, and once they do a great job for us, they get scooped up by the other agencies, so it’s a step in the door towards employment for a lot of people.”
PACE itself is funded through Ontario Health to provide mental health and addictions peer support, education, and advocacy, but does not receive ongoing funding for the warming centre.
The organization stepped up to operate the warming centre in 2020 following calls for more winter supports from activist group Not One More Death, which shared reports of multiple deaths on the city’s streets.
The city initially funded the centre’s operations as an emergency COVID-19 response, but is no longer offering that funding.
McKinnon said the need for the service existed before the pandemic, but received little attention.
“COVID brought light to a lot of the gaps in the services,” she said. “People were dying out in the cold pre-COVID as well, and businesses were angry and kicking them out. It’s a lot easier on the business owners as well to have our services open.”
Other winter supports including a north end warming centre, the care bus, and homelessness outreach programs were awarded nearly $500,000 in funding by the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board in November.
McKinnon echoed comments by other agencies running those winter supports that permanent funding is needed.
“It would be really nice if it became annualized funding we didn’t have to jump through hoops to get,” she said. “When the need arose, PACE jumped up to the plate and we opened on a couple of weeks’ notice. I think the funding should just be there. The people who live in Thunder Bay need this, and we need to be able to provide it to them without causing ourselves more stress.”
The DSSAB has said it hopes to make the funding permanent, but that will depend on future allocations from the province
McKinnon added that PACE is encouraging donations of gifts for users over the holidays, many of whom “don’t get to have a Christmas,” she said. Gifts should be wrapped and marked with gender and size, she said.
“Thanks to the community, we’ve received a lot of donations of snacks and drinks, as well as clothing,” she said. “We’re also getting wrapped Christmas gifts … so that we can do a Christmas party, and all of the people who come to the warming centre will get a brand-new Christmas gift.”
PACE will also honour members who have passed since last Christmas with a decorated tree, she said.
While PACE itself closes over the holidays, the warming centre will remain open.
