The doors of the Lighthouse Emergency Shelter will be closed come Wednesday, April 1.
This is not an April Fools Day joke. The shelter’s last day of the cold season is usually March 31, explains Salvation Army community services manager Dave Byers, as it will be this year.
The shelter opens in November and closes in March or April, depending on the weather.
From the first day of April and on, the Salvation Army will be distributing tents and sleeping bags if people are in need of shelter.
Byers said people are able to find spots for them.
“They seem to find places; I don’t know where they’re sleeping these days. We don’t recommend any particular place.”
He said a lot of people will hang on to the tents; some are transients so take them along to their next destination.
“We do buy some tents and we have a few donated.”
Byers said if people are in need of emergency shelter they can drop by the food bank to get a sleeping bag and tent.
Also, the Salvation Army can provide bus tickets to other locations, on the basis of need.
Hours of the Salvation Army Food Bank, located at 441 Third Ave. just off the Trans-Canada Highway behind Safeway, are: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon; and Wednesdays, 9 to 11 a.m. Weekdays the food bank doors open at 8 a.m. so people can come in for coffee.
Statistics for the number of people using the shelter during the cold weather were not available at press time.
