After the death of founder Jim Shearer, Dryden Mission closes its doors

After more than a decade supporting the community, the Dryden Mission has closed its doors for the last time.

The mission, located on Van Horne Avenue in the northwestern Ontario town, was founded in 2010 by Jim Shearer, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 58.

"It was a dream that my dad had when we moved to northwestern Ontario in 2008," Alexzandria Penner, Shearer's daughter, told CBC News. "He was a pastor for many, many years ... but he was guided into a different path from your traditional church."

"He kind of developed this dream to have a mission of some sort, but he didn't know exactly what it would become, and he was open to the possibilities," she said. "So we moved from Red Lake to Dryden, and nobody really knew exactly what he was doing yet. We just kind of supported him and followed along the way."

Penner said her father initially began by collecting things for garage sales, and holding bake sales, funds from which were saved to launch the mission.

"Then in 2010, a building was donated to the mission, so at this point it became a registered charity," she said. "The doors opened in 2010 and it became a thrift store."

And things grew from there, with the mission running outreach programs, and providing sleeping bags and tents to those in need; Dryden, Penner said, has a women's shelter, but it doesn't have a men's shelter.

The mission was also a place for people to get volunteer experience, and Shearer was also able to get funding to operate a mechanic program to help teenagers and adults develop skills.

"There was a Christian-based alcohol anonymous program," Penenr said. "Yard work for elderly people."

And now, with the mission closed, Penner said there's a gap in the community.

"Over the past two years, with being in lockdowns, it wasn't able to do as much as it had previous years," she said. "So I feel like it has already kind of been removed from the community a little bit."

"But we were able to get things going again through this summer," Penner said. "People will really, really miss coming in.

"There were people who would come in every day, whether to buy something or just to talk. So it will definitely be missed as just a drop-in kind of place."

Across Canada, charities, missions and food banks, like the Dryden Mission have seen rising demand as inflation costs have put a squeeze on family budgets. In northwestern Ontario this year, several food assistance organizations say they too have seen a growing number of people relying on their programs — with inflation and other pressures leaving themselves to feel the squeeze too.