Brandon opening new emergency homeless shelter

A new emergency shelter has openedin Brandon, Man., on Tuesday, after city officials, businesses and individuals teamed up to help the city's homeless.

A cold spell across southern Manitoba in the past few days has raised calls for a central full-time shelter in the western Manitoba city, CBC News reported on Monday.

Members of Brandon's Safe and Warm committee have been trying to establish a shelter. They have alocation,but a lack of funding prevented membersfrom opening a facility,forcing many of the city's homeless to brave extremelycold nights this week on the street or under a bridge.

"We need to come up with close to $50,000 for security, which sounds like a huge amount of money, but [it will go towards] paying two security guards for 12 hours a night," Marla Somersall of the Samaritan House food bank told the CBC's Jill Coubrough.

On Tuesday, committee members saidcity council, local businesses and private donors are workingtogether tomake the emergency shelter a reality.

Alocal security company has offered to staff the shelteruntil the committee secures donations andgrants to raise the$50,000 needed.

The shelter will be open every night starting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Helping Hands soup kitchenon SeventhStreet.

"Everybody's excited.I can't imagine how the people will feel [when they] realize there's a place they can go,"said Helping Hands board member JakeHamm,who is part of the Safe and Warm committee.

"I believe for the people out on the street to realize there's a warm place to come to overnight would be like you or I being told we won the lottery. It will be literally a lottery in weather like this."