A $200,000 donation from a local businessman will allow the Salvation Army to take over operation of a Charlottetown homeless shelter for men.
Capt. Jamie Locke says a man asking to remain anonymous is donating $100,000 to cover initial start-up costs including renovations and transfer of ownership. A further $100,000 donation will be made in January 2013 to help ensure the long-term stability of the project.
“I believe he was just pleased to step up and offer this sizable donation,’’ said Locke.
The current board that has run Bedford MacDonald House for years will end operation of the facility when the doors close at the end of the month.
The Salvation Army hopes to reopen the homeless shelter, located on Weymouth Street, by mid-November.
Locke hopes to be able to double the current eight-bed capacity through renovations.
He says the Salvation Army appreciates the hard work of the current board of directors in operating the homeless shelter for years.
“We know these folks worked out of a dedication and a real heart of compassion,’’ he said.
“So we are quite grateful to them.’’
Sadly, though, the homeless shelter was run on a shoestring budget that led to desperate measures that included the board knowingly hiring a convicted pedophile, Everett Gallant, to keep watch over the facility.
The board closed the facility in June 2011 after Gallant was charged with sexually assaulting a homeless man who had been staying at the shelter. Gallant was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to serve three years in jail.
A number of churches formed an ad hoc working group to work alongside the Bedford MacDonald board to reopen the shelter in late December.
Now the Salvation Army is set to take over operation after earlier determining it could not afford to go ahead with such plans.
Locke says renovations and hiring of staff will be in line with provincial and federal homeless shelter guidelines as well as stringent policies set out by the Salvation Army for the homeless shelters it operates in other parts of the country.
“It does need some upgrading just to ensure that the facility is safe,’’ he said.
Locke says the Salvation Army also plans to explore how it may help offset the fall-out of Grandmother’s House closing in late April in Charlottetown after housing women with no home for the past seven years.
“We know that the need is there and fully recognize it and will do our best to move in that direction,’’ he said.
