Main Street Project honours 50 years of service in Winnipeg and prepares for another busy night at the shelter
CBC
All 120 shelter beds at Winnipeg's Main Street Project will be full on Saturday — and every day this week — as the non-profit honours 50 years of supporting the city's homeless population.
The non-profit opened their new overnight facility at 637 Main Street, in the old Mitchell Fabrics building, in December 2020. It's 17 times bigger than their previous location on Martha Street.
"We've never had a day where we weren't at capacity," executive director Jamil Mahmood said.
The shelter doesn't turn anyone away in the winter if it's below -20 C. If the beds are full, people can stay warm in the lobby, or staff will try to arrange a bed at another shelter.
Mahmood said what Main Street Project is doing now is the same as it was five decades ago: outreach in the community and meeting people where they're at.
"Capacity and resources have changed over time, but we're still sticking true to those roots of being a low barrier, frontline organization," he said.
At their Thunderbird House location on the corner of Main and Higgins, the organization hosted a 50th anniversary open house for past and current staff, the public and the community they serve.
Newspaper clippings and photographs from the last half-century are displayed along the walls of Thunderbird.
Winnipeg's third street census suggests there are currently thousands experiencing homelessness in the city.
It's an issue that has been top of mind for Winnipeggers like Marnie Feeleus.
She attended the open house to learn more about what Main Street Project is doing and what support she might be able to provide.
"Everybody is, you know, one tragedy away from being [homeless] ourselves," she said.
Feeleus owns Fresh Option Organic Delivery and is passionate about reducing food waste.
She's hoping to support Main Street Project by supplying produce from her business that would otherwise go to waste.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.