Church challenges others to open doors

A Niagara Falls church which temporarily opened its doors as an emergency overnight shelter when the city fell victim to Mother Nature’s icy grip is hoping other churches will follow suit.

The River of Life Church on Dunn Street began offering emergency accommodation on New Year’s Eve when temperatures plummeted to -27 C. The service continued for four days, ending Wednesday night.

“We’re just a small church, 1,200-square-feet with a congregation of around 40,” said Rev. Richard Bultje. “There are others who are much larger than us and, if we can do it, anyone can do it.”

Currently, overnight accommodation is offered through Out of the Cold at various churches in St Catharines. Free transportation is provided to anyone across Niagara in need of emergency shelter.

Niagara Falls Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni said the current frigid weather conditions reflect the need for the city to have its own overnight facility.

“Why don’t we have this in place already? We don’t have a solution here in Niagara Falls,” she said.

The councillor became involved in a community-led effort to offer overnight shelter after she accompanied volunteers on a mobile outreach truck to distribute clothing and blankets to the city’s homeless.

“It was brutally cold,” Ioannoni said. “People were telling you if you go outside you are going to freeze to death.”

River of Life Church agreed to host a temporary overnight shelter.

“We are so very grateful for the generosity from River of Life of time and space,” said Rachel Berger, who volunteers with the outreach truck.

“I see them as the Little Church that Could or perhaps more appropriately would.”

Through word-of-mouth and the power of social media, the facility was flooded with donations from people eager to support the cause.

“We were really blessed with many people coming in,” Bultje said. “We were given food and clothing and health items.”

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said the congregation went “above and beyond in our community.”

“We certainly wouldn’t want anybody to be left out in this kind of weather,” he said. “It could be a bad situation without everyone reaching out and helping out.”

While the Region is responsible for managing overnight emergency shelters, most municipalities have designated warming centres available to anyone who needs a place to keep warm and escape the exceptionally cold temperatures.

In Niagara Falls, for example, the MacBain Community Centre and Gale Centre have been kept open until 10 p.m. 1 a.m., respectively.

Also, on New Year’s Day, staff opened city hall to anyone who needed to warm up.

The city warming centres are not open overnight as there is no staff on hand to manage the facilities, Diodati said.

“You can’t just leave the building open...you have to have someone there,” he said.

Additional emergency shelter may be available at the YWCA, Women’s Place of South Niagara, for women and children only, or Nightlight Youth Services, for those between 16 and 30.

Warming centre locations:

MacBain Community Centre, 7150 Montrose Rd., open daily from 6 a.m. - 1 a.m.

Gale Centre, 5152 Thorold Stone Rd., open daily from 5:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Niagara Falls city hall, 4310

Queen St., open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Any branch of the Niagara Falls Public Library

For more information on available services, visit niagarafalls.ca or www.niagararegion.ca.