Sharing a Thanksgiving Bounty in Regina

Souls Harbour serves up meals for 300

Reported By Geoff Smith

It's a week of Thanksgivings.

For the last few days Regina's Souls Harbour Rescue Mission has been serving Thanksgiving meals to the less fortunate . The organization worked on Saturday to feed some 300 people. Derrick Moore with Souls Harbour says the bounty being offered speaks to Regina's generosity.

"Regina, Saskatchewan, is fantastic for stepping up in every way. Whether it's donating their time, their effort, their enthusiasm, their money, their food..." Moore said. He explained more meals were expected to be served by spreading it out.

"It's hard to measure if there's more [need] than six months ago, or four months from now," Moore said. "I think it's a continuous thing, that there's always going to be people who need a meal."

The Thanksgiving feast included fresh vegetables, ham, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie.

Day 4: Thanksgiving Thursday

We had a great lunch on Murphy's Wharf today. Fish and chips was the most affordable at this dockside restaurant. Murphy's Wharf was one of the 2009 top 10 attractions in Canada by Where Magazine! Note the clouds, but no rain all day. Whew!

This is Ken's little Thanksgiving pumpkin. It was the table centrepiece. We considered bringing it back to the hotel for supper but didn't think we could cook it in our coffee maker. We're still at the Atlantica, so no need to pack our bags, which was nice.

The historic properties and beautiful architecture are a site to behold in this harbour city. We saw this row of houses on the way downtown, to tour the Salvation Army.

And we saw this on our way back!

Day 3: Wild Weathered Wednesday

Today we walked and walked and walked for the second day in a row. Oh, and it did not rain. In true Maritime fashion, it POURED!

We finally found the homeless today! Instead of heading to the tracks, we had to head to the docks and the bridge. Had great chats with several service providers and the community police. I had to laugh at the email advice I received from Mike, our LifeChange Program Men's Resident Manager's. I confirm that we are definitely finding this to be true:

Things you're probably figuring out: There is a little white church and a Tim Hortons on EVERY corner and the Easterners like to use these two references as land markers when giving directions. (ie: Turn right at the Little White Church and it's just past the Tim Hortons). The other is that they have absolutely NO concept of distance or time. 5 minutes up the road is more like 25 minutes. A mile away means 5 or more and it's usually past the little white church.... the good thing is that you can grab a Tim Hortons on the way.

Tomorrow we will be calling Ella, who is paid to know what's going on in the community. In our wanderings we stumbled across young Pastor Dave from All Nations Christian Reformed Church. Ella is a part time, paid church member who is their community liaison. We were so thankful he took time out for us, and that this church is trying to make a difference and impact their community and campus'. And, as you can see by the picture, the architecture of this building is beautiful, complete with rounded wood pews inside. They are blessed, indeed!

At the end of a long, tiring day we had fish soup and half a lobster sandwich. Very yummy! We could get used to this fresh fish. We're off to bed now. It's still raining. Very happy that Hotwire randomly picked the Atlantic 4 star hotel last night. The beds here are the best. We shall sleep well, for tomorrow we may be at the Citadel Hotel.

Day 2: Tugboat Tuesday

Today our Russian Roulette landed us at the Atlantica. It was a great score because this hotel is a 4 star with free Starbucks & apples. This means we get breakfast tomorrow! We met the meanest taxi driver in the East getting here, though. He greeted the parking guy like an old friend and didn't speak one word to us the entire trip! Ken had slept so poorly - 4 hours - due to the three hour time change and springy mattress. If I lay on my stomach a spring would gouge my ribs! The time change worked in my favour, though, and I slept 11 hours or so, right up until the maid came into our room! Eek! Ken bolted out of bed to slam the door. LOL!!

So, today we got a lay of the land. We travelled with FRED. It's named for FREE RIDES EVERYWHERE DOWNTOWN. However, it only comes every 45 minutes so we mostly walked all day and finally caught up with FRED. We found out why he is so slow. He's actually a tour bus so we got a 45 minute historical tour around town.

We stopped at the YMCA, who no longer has any services to the less fortunate, as of a couple of years ago, and have lost the pulse of this particular segment of society.

I got to witness to a mentally challenged man at the bus stop who was reading a little budhist book on top of his Bible. I asked what he was reading and said the Bible was the much better book. He wasn't so sure, because he had been helped by some people who gave him that book. I told him that he needed to be careful because it could be confusing to him, and that he should stick to the bigger book underneath - the Bible.

We met a homeless man on our way after supper, with Ken navigating "one block to the bus stop" that turned into "7 blocks." This man let us know where to find a soup kitchen we weren't familiar with, and we gave him 50 cents for his time.

Ken signed a petition to save the view of the harbour from Citadel Hill. For this we got to interview this local man, who said, "I don't feel like I'm promoting our city well by telling you where the homeless live, but I guess it's what you're interested in, so it's okay."

Day 1: Halifax Hotwired

Day 1 was a travel day on our scouting trip to Halifax. After a day of travel, we arrived in Halifax with enough time and energy to find our hotel and soak in the hot tub. In the hot tub, we met a couple from Alberta that told us to head down to the Halifax harbour to catch the tail end of a concert. Well it turned out to be Alexander Keith's 200th Birthday Beer Bash. A couple of locals with dead give-a-way accents gave us their free passes on their way out. We took them just to buy a hot dog as we couldn't find any dinner anywhere. We listened to a couple songs, but the university beer bash crowd was a bit too much to take!

We walked all the way up the huge hill, burning off our hot dog, to stay at the hotel we booked that morning. On the way to the airport, I called the local hostel, but no private accomodations were available. At the last minute I fluked upon a site called Hotwire. This is the Russian Roulette of hotel rentals. Every morning, I check this site and book the cheapest hotel I can. The "catch" to these half price rates is that you don't find out which hotel you stay in until you pay for it. They are all 3 star and higher, and in the vincinity of the downtown area. Day 1 was the Citadel - lumpy beds, dinged up furniture. I booked this and the next days hotel all from my iPhone. Isn't that crazy amazing technology?!

So, what have we gleaned on day one? We read, Nova Scotia Book of Everything on the plane, and it was right on several counts already:

1. There are 173 Tim Horton's in Nova Scotia and that means a "Timmie's" on every corner around here. Some, right across the street from one another!

2a. They also said the people are VERY friendly, and we have already found this to be the case. We stopped to eat on the pier and although they were closing, he spent time finding his lunch menu so we would know the prices for the next day.

b. The two men with the beer passes and green moose antlers were also incredibly friendly, making sure we had directions and specific instructions: "They are closing in 20 minutes, but if you just turn left right there and walk in a straight line for about 3 minutes, you'll can get in and get what you can while you can!"

c. At the hotel we asked our clerk, "Can you tell us where we can find the homeless in Halifax?"

She knew we were on foot, and asked, "Oh, you want to avoid them, right?"

"No, actually, we are looking for skid row!"

Homeless Halogonian

A couple weeks ago I received a call from Ed Raddatz, the Executive Director of Mission Services of Hamilton, Ontario, asking if Ken and I would consider assisting the Northeast district of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions by completing a needs assessment in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

It was followed up with a phone call by the expansion committee of the district, who said they wanted a Canadian couple who had experience in not only a needs assessment, but a successful mission plant in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Catching the last day of a seat sale, and fitting our other scheduled activities around this trip, we managed to book a flight to Halifax for Monday morning - yup, tomorrow! We've completed a ton of online research, and are ready to meet and greet the service providers, homeless folks, and pastors next week. The assessment should take three or four days, and we are going to take the same to explore the Maritimes. Neither of us have ever been, so we want to make the most of this opportunity!

We are looking for prayer support, and any contacts or information you can provide. Just facebook me and I'll email or call you back. If you would like to help financially support this needs assessment, mark your gift "Halifax" and our Mission will send you an income tax receipt. (American donations are also receipted.)

The little budget:
Flight: $1200
Hotel: $400
Meals: How much is lobster on the pier?!
Umbrella: $10 (just kidding.)

Of course, none of this money will be used for our personal days!

The needs of the homeless in Canada are many; please pray that we are able to provide the district with information that will help them to decide if this city of 400,000 needs a rescue mission to call their own.

Cell phone Numbers go public next month

Cell phone Numbers go public next month

All cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls.

YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 1-888-382-1222.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five(5)years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

It takes about 20 seconds. You can also use this number on landlines.

You can also register by going to the following web-site: https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/insnum-regnum-eng

Donations sought for meal

Donations sought for meal
Regina Leader Post

Everybody deserves a Thanksgiving dinner, and the Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is hoping to provide a meal for as many hungry people as possible.

The Mission has been given a lot of potatoes and vegetables, but it hasn't received much for hams and turkeys yet, said Aaron Cross, emergency services manager with Souls Harbour.

People can donate hams and turkeys at 3535 8th Ave.

Thanksgiving dinner will be served at Souls Harbour's soup kitchen, located at 1836 Halifax St., starting at 12 noon on Oct. 10.

"We're expecting probably somewhere between 300 to maybe as many as 400 people," said Cross.

There will be music and gifts, and Cross expects that dinner will be available until food runs out.

He also mentions that Souls Harbour needs food beyond Thanksgiving.

"We serve meals at this Mission here through our Life Change program 365 days a year. If people are willing to donate any food at all, we welcome it," said Cross.

Corporations and organizations can also sponsor a Thanksgiving meal.

For more information, contact Cross at 543-0011.