La Ronge and area will once again have an emergency overnight shelter this winter.
The Scattered-Site Outreach Program, who is run by the Kikinahk Friendship Centre, will have enough funding to get the program going for this winter.
Ron Woytowich, the director of Kikinahk, says they are happy to get funding again.
“There’s always funding,” he said. “You just have to be able to apply and, quite frankly, justify it. We’re pretty lucky in that we’ve been receiving funding over the last quite a few years, five anyway, to run some sort of shelter.”
Over the summer, the winter overnight shelter’s future was in question due to lack of funding.
Lee-Wayne Nippi, the shelter’s manager, said having this service available in the La Ronge area is important as it keeps people alive during the cold winter months.
“We’re keeping people from passing away from exposure (to the cold) and that’s the main thing,” Nippi said.
Earlier this year, Kikinahk was looking at buying a building for the shelter rather than continuing to rent the one they’re in now.
That was shut down by the town’s council at the time, but Woytowich has now said their current building, which is just off the town’s main street, is the perfect location for the program.
“The truth is the centre is really in the best location that it could be because we’re right across the street from the medical clinic, we’re right in the middle of where everybody hangs around and where the food is.”
The emergency shelter will begin taking in up to 20 clients once Kikinahk is able to hire the staff needed to operate it.
(PHOTO: Scattered-Site Outreach Program vehicle. File photo.)