Shelter season 2013 underway

The shelter opened for business Tuesday 19 Nov 2013.  If you'd like to volunteer, please call the shelter operator at 604-315-5705.

2012/2013 season wrap-up

The winter was quite mild this year and as a result the shelter was open only seventeen nights.   Twenty guests in total spent at least one night with us, eight of whom were new.  In total we had 43 bed nights, averaging 6.8 per night.  The average is slightly higher than last year (6.2 last year), primarily due to the fact that our partner shelter, Richmond House, did not receive the same funding as last year, so they sent more guests our way.

Shelter closing till next time

We're closing tonight now that milder weather has returned. Ten guests last night. One fellow found a permanent shelter at the Salvation Army in Langley this morning before he left and there are spaces elsewhere available.

 It was a good run of six nights with lots of guests each night, so plenty of meals to cook, lunches to pack, dishes to wash and mats and blankets to haul away. Our guests are very grateful for the service we provide and if you didn't hear it from them personally, I'm passing it on to you now. Yes, even the guy who occasionally barks at us for having salt in the oatmeal or wondering where his second helping of french toast is (as happened this morning) he eventually says thanks respectfully and genuinely.


Till next time, thanks from me.

Shelter supporters thanked

Here's a letter to the editor written by one of our shelter volunteers and published in Richmond News on January 9th.   Volunteer "E" should also be thanked as she was the person who took the initiative both times to approach Canadian Tire and ask for a donation.  The first time, we needed a new toaster and this time a new griddle as I dropped the one we'd been using and broke it.   

Shelter supporters thanked

RICHMOND NEWS JANUARY 9, 2013

The Editor,

Today is the second time the Canadian Tire store located in the Coppersmith Plaza on Steveston Highway in Richmond contributed to the St. Alban Extreme Weather Shelter. The donation of cooking equipment for preparing breakfast makes it easier for shelter staff and volunteers to provide nourishment for those citizens who are vulnerable to homelessness.

We are very appreciative of this generous gesture to support the shelter, which also provides warm clothing and a warm place to sleep during the cold winter nights.

Thank you to the good Samaritans at Canadian Tire and to the other merchants who support the shelter.

E. Michaud, On behalf of Inn From The Cold at St. Alban Richmond

Read more:http://www.richmond-news.com/news/Shelter+supporters+thanked/7794804/story.html#ixzz2I4zfHo5T

Temperatures up, shelter numbers down

Weather's milder today but we'll open again tonight. Only seven guests stayed the night, down from twelve the previous night, a confirmation from the street that the weather outside is more tolerable. We had 3 more join us for dinner only and two for breakfast only.

At the St Alban drop-in centre yesterday daytime, we also had a good turnout: 10 people, so St Alban is a very popular spot these days.

Last evening, the lounge was in use by a regular weekly meeting and the hall was booked for a strata AGM, so we served dinner upstairs in the drop-in centre and carried the food from the kitchen out the back door, around the building and up the back stairs. Grace kept it simple for easy transportation: chili con carne, veggies and homemade corn bread muffins.

Tonight we have the weekly Community Meal at St Alban, serving approx. 150 people, and we usually gain a guest or two who decide to bunk down with us after a big meal.

Tomorrow night looks borderline for opening. I"m guessing we'll close but we'll decide in the morning.