Unfortunately, Christmas will be unforgettable for the Prince Albert Salvation Army and the Prince Albert community.
Everything was going on as planned on Christmas Day after The Meeting Place (the Salvation Army church auditorium) provided space for the annual Community Christmas Dinner. It ended in disaster, with a fire that quickly consumed almost the entire building.
Hundreds of residents were hosted at and served from The Salvation Army building. Little did anybody know that that would be the last supper.
“My first reaction on hearing about the fire was complete shock,” said Prince Albert Salvation Army representative Major Ed Dean.
Dean said the building was supposed to be empty at the time of the fire. The Christmas Dinner had already concluded, with volunteers having already cleaned-up and left the building, while the warming centre wasn’t scheduled to open for another two hours.
“It didn’t make sense,” Dean said during an interview on Monday.
Dead said Salvation Army members and volunteers and poured thousands of hours into improving the building. The Christmas Daffier left him in a state of shock.
Dean estimated the losses to be “well over a million dollars , probably more, considering the high cost of things right now.”
As at press time the cause of the fire had not been ascertained yet as to what led to the fire on the building which sits on a 13,000 square foot parcel of land.
Dean said the effect of the fire is still being felt. The Church could not hold its worship last week Sunday, but there is hope of an alternative place as they are working on something.
“There is already a plan in place,” he said. “We will have a discussion with the congregation on Wednesday. We have been offered worship space. It was strange not to have service on Sunday especially being the end of the old year, coming into the New Year.”
“I want the faithfuls to know that we are very concerned,” he added. “We know that there’s been questions, we know that there has been shock of loss and we are here for you. We are not going away. Our worship is very important. As soon as we can we will be back worshipping as a church community. That’s our foundation.
“We may have lost our building, our worship space but the important thing is that we keep the faith. God is still in control even in times of despair such as this.”
As for the support services side, Dean said discussions are already underway. Community leaders met for an emergency meeting on Christmas Day, and Dean said they plan to hold another one on Tuesday to help find an alternative space for the city’s cold weather warming space.
Dean said the PAGC has allowed them to use the Urban Services building until Jan. 2, but that’s just a short-term solution. He added that there are a lot of uncertainties still surrounding the future activities of the Salvation Army as they await official reports from the relevant authorities and agencies.
The goal is to find what Dean called a “permanently temporary” location so they can make long-term plans.
“I am not quite sure, just yet, of where we are going to be.,” he said. “We do recognize that service delivery is just as important as it was for those that we served as they still need their warming centre, they still need their hot meals , they need their showers … and all those services. We are very conscious of that and trying to keep that in mind in the meantime juggling the pieces.”
Dead said there is a multi -agency response team to help The Salvation Army through this trying period. The agencies include the PAGC, the YWCA, Mobile Crisis and many other helping agencies. The Salvation Army is hoping to secure a place to use in the time being that can accommodate a a warming centre and a kitchen at least.
Dean also reiterated the call for donations, contributions and support stating that the funds raised will be used for “replenishing, operations rebuilding where is best needed. We already have a mailbox set up, it’s been forwarded from our address, so the donations will come to us especially this being the year end. It could be included in the year end contributions.”
Those who wish to donate can do so from the The Salvation Army Facebook page where there is a QR code for that purpose, or shown below:
