FOOD DONATIONS: Late last week we received a plethora of bulk food donations! 8,000 pounds of apples, 1500 pounds of fresh whole chicken and hundreds of bottles of mineral water and canned sprite! Amazing, and as is our practice, we not only fed our guests, but shared this bounty with the Regina Food Bank, ICF, Salvation Army, and the Marian Centre.

Some of today's kitchen time! Fresh pork roast as prepared by Bob our Emergency Services Manager and some 6" mini cakes (we like to use these for guest birthdays) made by super volunteer Lil.

Thank you so much Street Culture Project. You guys rock!!!

Yesterday we welcomed back Heewon, our Director of Childcare Services, from her maternity leave, and we celebrated her birthday as well! She's originally from South Korea and it turns out that they 'count the years' a little differently there. Hence the blend of Korean and Canadian numbers making her 3940 years old! I must say, she looks fantastic! 😀

Christian’s story. Christian turned 33 years old a short while ago. He was originally born in Rwanda and he came to Canada when he was 10 years old. Both of his parents were killed in the Rwandan genocide in the summer of 94’. As a resident of Canada, and as he grew older, Christian made some bad life choices. Those choices led him down the path of drug use/dealing, crime, and a very dangerous gang related lifestyle. Eventually all of those choices caught up to him and he was incarcerated for quite a long time. While in prison he began working with an organization known as ‘Exodus Outreach’, and he made a personal decision to change his life, and to become a Christian. We first met Christian sometime after that, when we were approached by Exodus to see if there was any way that Souls Harbour Rescue Mission could be of assistance to Christian when he was released from prison. That was an easy answer for us! We decided to hire Christian on a full time basis as one of our men’s emergency shelter workers. We also offered him his own suite, a place that he could call home, for his young daughter and him. Those two decisions meant that he didn’t have to go back to his old life style and that he had a safe place to live. Essential things for a young man trying to rebuild his life! Today Christian works very hard helping others! He's been employed by us for more than 6 months now. He enjoys his job, he pays his rent on time, he helps pay for his daughters daycare, he attends church regularly, and he volunteers his time. He has a beautiful smile and he laughs a lot! He’s no longer a ‘write-off’ and a drain on society, but rather, a tax paying law abiding member of our community! HE’S A NEW MAN, and we were blessed to play a part in this beautiful transformation process!