City funds additional warming services during upcoming cold weather

NEWS RELEASE - Distributed February 22, 2023 1:00 PM

Summary

With temperatures dropping due to arctic outflow beginning Wednesday, Feb. 22, the City of Nanaimo is assisting people in need of warming services. The City will again provide funds for existing organizations to extend their hours of service.

Service hours within the community are as follows:

7-10 Club Society (at St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Chapel Street) will be open an additional three hours per day, from 7 am to 7 pm on Thursday, Feb. 23 through Friday, Feb. 24, and can assist 30 to 40 people at one time. Typical 7-10 Club Society hours are Monday to Friday, 10 am to 7 pm.

Unitarian Shelter offers 27 overnight shelter beds and during extreme cold, offers daytime warming centre services to their shelter guests only.

Risebridge, in response to the cold, will provide overnight services by adding additional warming relief hours between 7:30 pm and 7:30 am on Wednesday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 25. Regular warming hours are 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm every day.

The City of Nanaimo provides funding to 7-10 Club and Risebridge for daytime warming centres for people experiencing homelessness, and to the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter to assist overnight guests with daytime services as needed. Funding comes from a Union of BC Municipalities ‘Strengthening Communities’ Services program grant to the City to support daytime cold and hot extreme weather service, and the City applies for funding for additional hours of service for extreme weather events through the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

The following services are also available:

Salvation Army has 35 overnight shelter beds and daytime access only for existing shelter guests. Samaritan Place has added five additional beds during extreme cold in addition to its existing 14 beds. St Peter’s Winter Shelter now has 35 beds open 8 pm to 7:30 am.

Visit www.nanaimo.ca/goto/supports for a full list of drop-in and indoor meal services.

Link to Strategic Plan: Providing warming opportunities contributes to a livable community for all.

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