Souls Harbour opening youth and daycare centre

Michelle Porter in the former St. Andrews United Church which has been taken over by the Souls Harbour RESCUE Mission. Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser, Leader-Post

By Pamela Cowan, Leader-Post

REGINA -- Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is hoping to attract younger souls in the inner-city to a converted church.

The mission has bought the former St. Andrews United Church at 1475 Athol St., and plans to turn it into a youth and daycare centre in North Central.

Executive director Michelle Porter said the purchase was kept under wraps until the mission’s winter newsletter was sent to supporters this week.

“We’ve had the building for a while and we’ve been keeping it a secret because we wanted to make sure that all of our donors knew first,” she said. “We’re hoping to open a Christian daycare for anyone in the city because there’s huge daycare waiting lists ... It is our dream to get everything up and running by the fall so when back-to-school comes, we have a daycare for the kids and after-school programs.”

The mission is already looking to hire an early childhood educator who will act as the centre’s director.

Porter envisions music and drama productions will be performed on the building’s large stage and sporting events will be held in the regulation-size high school gym.

“We have some floor hockey equipment already and there will be basketball, some hip hop classes, a coffee house — maybe the youths are in some bands that could come and play Friday nights,” Porter said. “And there is a huge rec room where we will have pool, shuffleboard, ping pong and some of the programs will be linked to meals.”

Literacy and after-school programs are also on the books. Porter isn’t worried about duplicating current programming for at-risk youths in North Central because of the need for services.

“We really want to make a difference before they get involved in the gangs, before they start drinking and that starts young,” she said. “There are people who start drinking when they are in elementary school and if you start drinking that young, you can bet that drugs won’t be far behind. We just want to have a safe place where they can come in.”

Porter said the mission was interested in the property for some time before the church was put up for sale.

“We were the first when it did come into foreclosure so they made us a great deal — we paid $50,000,” Porter said.

But more than $100,000 is owing in property back taxes, which she said the city is reluctant to forgive.

“They don’t like to set a precedent, but we do have a matching donor — someone who is willing to put up $50,000 if someone else puts up the other $50,000,” Porter said.

The unkempt building requires major work such as replacing the boilers and the roof, which could cost between $300,000 to $500,000. But as word of the plans for the new youth centre circulates, tradesmen are phoning to volunteer their time and talents.

Murray Lutzer, a youth pastor who worked in Alberta for five years, is glad to return to Regina and be part of a change in North Central as the centre’s youth worker.

“If you can affect teenagers at a young age, then you can affect a whole generation — and families too,” Lutzer said.