Mission possible

Michelle and Ken Porter have long had a dream.

Now Halifax businessman Besim Halef is helping make that dream a reality.

Together, their efforts will mean that Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, the non-profit founded and run by the Porters that helps hundreds of homeless and underprivileged people in Halifax and the South Shore, will soon be able to do even more.

This good-news story by Herald multimedia journalist Bill Spurr deserves a retelling.

The mission spends more than a half million dollars a year feeding up to 190 people at its downtown Halifax drop-in centre. It’s also opened a satellite mission serving up to 40 people in Bridgewater.

Among its other activities, the non- profit also provides recovery programs, clothing and shelter to lift people out of poverty.

Michelle Porter, Souls Harbour’s co- founder and CEO, says they’ve long dreamed of opening a thrift store as a way to raise money for their work.

Enter Besim Halef, owner of Banc Group Holdings.

Halef and the Porters developed a relationship over the last year. To support the mission, Halef — who owned land at the Bayers Lake Business Park — offered to have a 17,000-square foot thrift store built there and rent it to the Porters on a lease-to-buy arrangement over 10 years, all at cost.

The non- profit’s new Mission Mart thrift store, well located on Susie Lake Crescent, is set to open Oct. 1.

Souls Harbour wants to pay off the modest $3 million cost of their new thrift store as soon as possible, says Michelle Porter.

They are hoping for great success from their Carts of Hope capital campaign. Halef has himself pledged $250,000.

“We will always give away free clothing to the needy. Food. Clothing. Shelter. At its core, that is what Souls Harbour is all about,” Porter said in a press release announcing Mission Mart.

Profits from the thrift store will go toward helping the hungry, homeless, addicted and abused.

It’s generosity enabling generosity.