Hope was not lost in the Healing Hearts workshop fire

Members of Healing Hearts Ministrieshaven'tlost faith even after a fire destroyed many beloved projects inside their workshop.

The Reginaworkshop was home to the Healing Hands program, an outreach shop program run by Healing Hearts Ministries. Healing Hands seeks to give teenagers and young adults in the community an opportunity to learn practical skills while working on projects in the workshop.

• Fire in Regina's North Central area keeps crew busy

The projects completed in the workshop culminate with a long-term project building a canoe. This year, the ministry was working with youth from Red Feather Spirit Lodge to build the canoe. The canoe was among the prized many possessions destroyed by the fire.

Erica Beaudin, urban services manager of Regina Treaty/Status Indian Services, said that the youth from Red Feather enjoyed the hands-on learning experience they gained through working in theworkshop.Beaudin said that whenever a community-based agency like Healing Hearts suffers, it affects many lives.

It's one of the very few times that these youth have had the opportunity to actually build something with their hands.- Walter Selke

"For us, it is a loss because we've lost our facility, we've lost our canoe," said Beaudin. "We're going to have to work with the youth to understand the loss and work through their disappointment."

To Walter Selke, executive director of Healing Hearts Ministries, the canoe project offers more to the youth involved than simply building a way to ride the waters.

"It helps build a sense of self-worth and they can have an impact upon their environment and upon their community," said Selke.

"It's one of the very few times that these youth have had the opportunity to actually build something with their hands, and to see the tangibility of their ability go into something that is quite beautiful and very artistic."

Spurgeon Root, director of outreach ministries, ran the workshop programs for Healing Hands. He saw the canoe project as a long-term way to connect with youth in the community.

"They require more patience, they require a greater level of skill to build, and they are a lot longer so it requires you to kind of buy in for a while if you want to see it to completion," said Root.

Root was on his way home from canoeing in Nistowiak Falls when the news startedcoming in from home about the workshop.

I had a painting and some snow shoes from a friend of mine who passed away from cancer, I can't replace that.- Spurgeon Root

"I had a long drive to wrap my head around what happened, I was maybe hoping I could salvage a few things," said Root.

The workshop was also home to Root's office, where he housed a lot of personal mementos from over the years.

"I'm not particularly attached to my random orbital sander, but I had a painting and some snow shoes from a friend of mine who passed away from cancer, I can't replace that."

Root said that although some objects with emotional value are painful to lose, he is grateful that most of the things can be replaced and no one was hurt.

Selke said that, as a faith-based organization, they're "going to spend some time praying" about how to move forward.

"Investing in the community is worth it, and we're committed to doing that," said Selke. "Even though this is a setback, it's not going to stop what we're doing as an organization to invest into the community here."