Daily Herald
The news of the fire outbreak took all by surprise, as at press time the value and impact of the loss could not yet be ascertain but the community has swung into action to support the Salvation Army, the Homeless and other users and beneficiaries of Salvation army building that was a shelter to so many in different capacities.
While the spiritual usage of the building has been put on hold temporarily, the Salvation Army are not alone in this time of grief. The Light for Christ Ministries, Saskatoon has immediately dispatched a team of volunteers to Prince Albert offering all the assistance that they can give at this time.
“When we heard that the Salvation Army, knowing how big of an impact this will have on the Church and the homeless community, thought in our hearts to come and help out,” said Henry Dyck, Light for Christ Ministries, Saskatoon the Team Lead.
“We don’t know how long we will stay but we will be here to see how much help they need and what we can do to assist.
“We brought a bagful of socks, toques, gloves and stuff like that along with some volunteers from the ministry. We came also to help out labour-wise. On Wednesday night we will be here serving the meal courtesy of our fundraising committee,” he explained.
The fundraising committee is called the Rivers of Life Café and Catering and will cook the food next Wednesday morning.
“Our hearts go out for all the homeless and to the people of the Salvation Army, after having spent years there and getting to know the clientele and then losing it all in a fire overnight must be very devastating, “Dyck said “so shows a lot of community coming out for them now shows that their work was being seen.”
The Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) has donated the Urban Services building downtown to serve as a temporary Warming Centre for the nights only and have put plans in place to serve meals to those in need from now until Jan. 2, 2026.
The Centre will be open from 10p.m. – 8a.m. and then offer breakfast, and resume by 11a.m. – 1p.m. for lunch.
She also stated that some organizations have offered to sponsor the meals for some days. The organizations include Fit for 10 (Saturday), the Rivers of Life Café and Catering (Wednesday), Hague and St Albans (Sundays).
“We still have Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays still open for sponsors. We need size 10 and 11, snacks for the night. The Prince Albert Raiders are doing a call up for shoes, hats and hot shorts,” Kimberly Jonathan of the PAGC said.. The next Raiders game 50-50 will be donated to the Salvation Army. We are stepping in to let Major Ed and the Salvation Army take a breath, gather themselves because they are going through a lot of grief and hurt. We are just wrapping our arms around the Salvation and what it does for our community,” she added.
Currently around 75 people have been attended to already and she believes the number will increase.
The plans on where worship will be held along with other weekly church activities of The Salvation Army has not been determined.
