A slow but smooth first night at River City Vineyard’s newly expanded homeless shelter was one reason church pastor George Esser said he was feeling “huge relief,” Saturday.
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The other was two major donations, capping fundraising efforts for the four-year$1-million expansion at the Mitton Street shelter, and halfway funding a looming $200,000 roof replacement.
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“It was a great first night opening,” Esser said.
Three people, including one woman, turned out opening night Dec. 22, he said, to make use of the expanded spaces at the River City Vineyard Sanctuary.
Nearly 20 years ago, when the shelter first quietly opened, it also took time for the original beds to fill, he noted.
Now they’re full regularly, with people also on a wait list, Esser said.
“It just takes time to get the word out,” he said.
A pair of $100,000 donations were also announced Saturday—from longstanding River City supporting Rick Lalonde and Progressive Auto.
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They help cover off the last remaining expenses, like window adjustments and architectural modifications, that hiked project costs and resulted in several delays, and made headway on funding the needed roof repairs, Esser said.
“We’re very grateful to the community for all the generous support,” he said, adding that includes food and other donations.
“It’s just awesome.”
Leaks started in the flat, tar roof about a year ago, while renovations inside were still underway, he said.
“You want to finish one thing before you start a second project, so it was like, ‘let’s get some buckets and get the shelter done,’” he said.
“Then it kept taking longer and longer.”
Hopes are to contract the roof repairs when warmer weather returns, he said.
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The expansion added about 40 beds for men and women, boosting the total number to about 70.
Plans are to also convert the original 28 to steel-frame pods, with tarps for privacy and lockboxes for storage, like the expansion beds, Esser has said.
One of the final hurdles before opening was figuring out a temporary solution for fire safety, after it was discovered a fire alarm monitor was needed to automatically alert security officials, who contact emergency officials in the case of fire, he said.
River City, and Sarnia’s fire and building departments instead worked it out so shelter personnel manually check the hallways every hour, on top of the shelter’s existing alarms and sprinklers, Esser said.
“Really, the fire watch is, if the alarm goes off, they call 911,” he said.
A contractor is booked Jan. 3 to install the monitor, he said.
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