The Salvation Army Serves up Hope to Winnipeg’s Inner City
The Salvation Army Serves up Hope to Winnipeg’s Inner City
Residents Over the Christmas Season
(Winnipeg, Manitoba – December 16, 2009) – While most Manitobans are cranking up their furnaces and boosting dead car batteries, there is another section of the population struggling just to survive in these bone-chilling temperatures. With each drop in the mercury, the challenges faced by the residents of The Salvation Army Booth Centre, an inner city emergency and transitional shelter increase. Booth Centre Ministries Executive Director, Major Al Hoeft says, “On any given night, we have the capacity to accommodate over 350 individuals. However, with the frigid weather we can expand our capacity to include an additional 50 mats. It is our goal to ensure that we have sufficient capacity so that anyone choosing to seek refuge has an option.”
Not only is the Winnipeg Booth Centre providing emergency shelter every night of the year, but this Wednesday an army of volunteers will descend on the downtown centre to spread some Christmas cheer to residents of the centre, their friends and family, as well as other community residents. A team of festive volunteers and dignitaries will be serving as many as 1,200 of these very special guests. In preparation for this event, Salvation Army staff will be busy roasting four dozen turkeys, peeling 200 pounds of potatoes, steaming over 170 pounds of vegetables and serving up 250 pies for dessert as they host The Salvation Army’s Annual Christmas Dinner.
Media are invited to meet the many volunteers as they host this year’s Salvation Army Christmas dinner on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. at Winnipeg’s Booth Centre (180 Henry Avenue). Serving will continue until 8 p.m.
To help Winnipeg’s inner city residents cope with the plunging temperatures, volunteers will also be handing out mitts and touques to those in need. The Salvation Army’s Booth Centre Ministries is the largest emergency shelter in the city of Winnipeg with accommodation for over 350 individuals on any given night, and it is near capacity every night – with an additional 50 beds during inclimate weather. Annually, the Booth Centre serves in excess of 200,000 meals and is a lifeline for hundreds in Winnipeg’s inner city.
