Ahead of the holiday season, the Saskatoon Tribal Council is expressing their gratitude to the community for a large amount of donations they received in the past week.
Last week, the STC put out a call for donations for their new Wellness Centre in Saskatoon and they say the response has been overwhelming.
The centre has an entire two car garage and an extra boardroom filled with donations they plan to hand out to the relatives at the centre over the holiday season.
(A garage full of donations to the STC Wellness Centre. “It’s overwhelming the amount of stuff we have received” said one person from the STC. Photo by Joel Willick.)
“We just wanted to show the community how much they are caring for people in need and just wanted to thank everybody,” said Tribal Chief Mark Arcand.
Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says he is especially grateful for the support from the Fairhaven neighbourhood where the wellness centre is located.
“I think there was a group of about 100 of them who came and made donations to the wellness centre, so we are grateful for them for embracing us into their neighbourhood,” said Arcand. “We are going to do the best we can to keep their neighbourhood safe and work together to make sure we are helping people.”
(The donations have also gone beyond the city limits as students from Davidson and Outlook sent the relatives christmas cards. Photo by Joel Willick.)
The tribal council’s permanent wellness centre in the city’s Fairhaven neighbourhood has been in operation for just over two weeks and has 106 beds available for people to stay over night.
During this recent cold snap, Arcand says many more also come into the lobby to find a place to stay warm, grab a coffee, eat a meal, and wait for a bed to possibly open.
The Tribal Chief says while it is difficult to administer all the donations they have been receiving he says donations are always welcome – especially donations of clothes and food.