New Thunder Bay Journey to Life Centre Offers Clients a Fresh Start
Journey to Life is more than just a name. For clients living and receiving support through The Salvation Army’s seven-month-old Journey to Life Centre in Thunder Bay, the facility means a fresh start to life.
The 35,000 square foot building opened in October 2020 to replace a 60-plus-year-old location that no longer effectively served The Salvation Army clients’ needs and limited the availability of programs and services. About $15 million of a $15.5 million capital campaign has been raised with donations still being accepted to fully develop the space.
The Journey to Life Centre provides 20 emergency shelter beds for the homeless population (four beds per room), plus an additional 10 overflow beds which are mats on the floor, as well as 4 rooms with 2 beds in each for people on parole leaving the federal corrections system.
To help them integrate back into society, clients coming to The Salvation Army from the corrections system have access to life skills and job search programs and can stay in the program for up to two years, provided they continue to meet parole conditions.
There are another 16 special care beds for those with intellectual disabilities or individuals dealing with addiction. Those residents may live their entire lives at the Journey to Life Centre. The building also features a chapel space, workout room, an industrial kitchen and wild game kitchen. These features were not possible in the old building, which was torn down.
A new Journey to Life program, which lent its name to the building, also has 20 available furnished apartments on the top floor of the building for clients receiving vocational and life skills training to overcome a range of challenges, including drug and alcohol addictions, homelessness and mental illness. There are currently 13 clients enrolled in the Journey to Life program.
Journey to Life Centre Executive Director Gary Ferguson, says demand and the need for support and hope is increasing due to the pandemic.
“The success that society sees is not necessarily the success that others are going to have – the house, the job and the 2.5 children for example. For us, success means you’re able to live independently. You are on some kind of pension or subsidy, but you are living substance free and you’ve achieved the goals you want. Perhaps you have a better relationship with your family – those are the kind of things we focus on,” he said.
“There is a lot of people experiencing homelessness in Thunder Bay and when COVID-19 is finally done the need for our services will dramatically increase.”
Gary admits that working under pandemic restrictions has been very stressful for clients and staff. With group counselling sessions and programming on hold due to COVID-19 protocols, employees are stepping in where needed, to replace staff if they are sick and have to self-quarantine.
“Staff have been cross-trained to allow them to move into any role to best support both internal clients and the community at large,” said Gary.
“Our staff has been both tremendous and courageous during these times and they are the catalyst for the Journey to Life Centre’s ability to maintain programming and services to Thunder Bay’s most vulnerable.”
The Salvation Army continues to support the community in other ways through the pandemic including the food bank. The food bank shelves are well stocked and there is no concern of running out of supplies. Clients can pick up food from the food bank every second Thursday where between 170 and 250 food hampers are distributed. Hot soup is also being delivered daily by The Salvation Army’s Journey to Life Centre soup van. As many as 100 people rely on this essential service which operated throughout Thunder Bay’s notoriously frigid winter and now is continuing into Spring.
Gary would like the public to better understand that the homeless population are people too and supports provided by the Journey to Life Centre are a vital lifeline for vulnerable individuals.
“The support and empathy are what we want from the community, a level of understanding of what we do, an acceptance towards all people. When you look at the marginalized population you try to isolate them, because if you have no connection with someone experiencing these difficulties in life, you have no understanding of their struggles. If you have no understanding, you are afraid.”
Donations to the Journey to Life’s capital campaign can still be made by phone at 1-807-345-6492. To provide financial support to The Salvation Army, donations can be made online at www.salvationarmy.ca or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY, where donations can also be directed to a specific program or location.
