The Salvation Army in Prince Albert returned for their regular Sunday service to the site of the Christmas Day fire on Sunday.
The site, which is still fenced off, was used for a service for the first time since the fire. Major Ed Dean of the Salvation Army said that it was great for the congregation to conduct a service at the site.
“Well, for our congregation, it’s a piece of connectedness to bring us together. It’s the familiar. It’s our own place of worship. Not that the Nazarene Church hasn’t been a place of worship. It has been a place of worship. We’re grateful for that,” Dean said.
Dean, who was deployed in British Columbia because of the wildfires in the Okanagan explained that it helped some members of the congregation to be present.
“But to bring people back to our own property, I think there’s some healing in that. Because for some of them, it’s the first time you’re back to that piece of property and that we’re doing something on it,” Dean said.
In June the Salvation Army returned the original sign from the building to the site, which was rescued after the fire, and placed it inside the fencing which surrounds the now empty property and Dean said at the time that a service was a possibility.
Dean said that the service was normal with a lunch served after the service.
“We did have a lunch afterwards and because it was hot and the Union Centre is only a block away. We had talked about doing the barbecue on site, but with me being deployed, then that changed a few things and to make it easier for my wife and those that were helping her, we moved over to the Union Centre and had our lunch there,” Dean said.
