New Glasgow homeless shelter to reopen as Viola's Place

Homeless and disadvantaged people in Pictou County will finally have a roof over their heads.

After two years without an emergency shelter in the area, the old Life Shelter will be reopened as Viola's Place and run by a new group of volunteers.

"Along the way we were asking, 'Can we do it?' and 'Could we do it?' and now it's like, 'Yes we did do it," said Karen MacPhee, the president of the Viola's Place Society board of directors. "It's amazing and wonderful and I could jump up and down for joy right now."

Named in honour of Viola Desmond, the black woman who stood up to racial discrimination at a local movie theatre in 1946, the new shelter will strive to be a comforting spot, MacPhee said.

Viola's Place Society took ownership of the old Life Centre Church this week.

Volunteers raised money to buy church

Volunteers raised $82,146 through a variety of methodsand theMunicipality of PictouCounty made an $8,000 donation. All five Pictou County towns also kicked in funds, with $7,500 coming from New Glasgow, $5,000 from Stellarton, $3,333 each from Trenton and Westville and $1,000 from the town of Pictou.

"All of a sudden the community as a whole just opened up their hearts and the money just kept pouring in," said MacPhee. "Now we can put money toward operational costs, which is phenomenal."

The church was purchased with $60,000 and the remaining funds will be used for other things such as buyinginsuranceand cleaning up the facility.

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The NorthumberlandQuilt Guild has already donated items like quilts, pillowcases and placemats to make the shelter feel more like a home.

Youth groups in the area are also helping.

"When we heard about Viola's Place opening, the girls thought they wanted to do something kind for somebody else," said Deelle Hines, executive director of the Pictou County Dream Candy Organization. "So we created some posters that have positive affirmations on them and welcome signs."

No date has been set yet for the opening of the shelter.

The cleanup of the facility will take time and there arealready plans to spruce things up with some paint.

Volunteers are needed and those who sign up to work at the shelter will need training.

With lots of room in the old church, there is potential for other groups to use the space.