Moose Jaw Pride warming centre seeing support while offering refuge from winter’s bite

The Moose Jaw Pride warming centre couldn’t have opened at a better time, even if it was a couple of days earlier than they would have liked.

The facility -- located in the Pride building at 345 Main St. N. -- officially opened its doors in mid-January, just in time for the massive windstorm that blew through southern Saskatchewan and left many in Moose Jaw without power in bitterly cold temperatures.

“It was a bit of a more sudden opening than we had planned on, we had maybe another day or two of work left to do, but then we had that sudden cold snap with the windstorm and the power being out, so we were like ‘nope, this has to open today’,” said Pride peer navigator Elliece Ramsey. “There are people without power who had nowhere to go, so it was a sudden opening but it was necessary.”

If there were any questions as to if the centre would be used on such short notice, they were quickly answered.

“We had people coming in the first day,” Ramsey said. “And ever since then we’ve had a steady stream of people stopping by… for a lot of people, even with the shelter, they don’t have anywhere to go during the day. So if we can get them out of the cold and prevent things like even just discomfort or more serious things like frostbite and hypothermia, we’re really glad to be able to help people and offer a space somewhere.”

As one might imagine, things didn’t let up once the storm had passed. Temperatures over the last two weeks dropped to -20 C and below as daytime highs, and that ended up bringing plenty of folks through the door. Ramsey estimated dozens of individuals have used the centre in the short time they’ve been open, taking advantage of their 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. hours while Riverside Mission is closed.

“It’s really fantastic, with people seeing our signs around the area and people hearing about it through word of mouth and through other community partners,” Ramsey said.

Part of the popularity is how the warming centre is more than just refuge from the cold. The space also has free hot drinks and free snacks, along with phone and internet access. They also provide free feminine hygiene products and condoms and will even go out of their way to make sure that when people leave the centre, they’re a little more protected from the cold.

“We have access to winter gear like hats and mitts and scarves so if people are in need of some winter clothing and they don’t have that or can’t acquire it on their own, we welcome them to come down and talk to us about that and we’ll find a way to help them,” Ramsey said. 

Their services also extend to help from Ramsey herself as a peer navigator.

“I can help them with other problems, whether that’s housing insecurity or food insecurity or navigating other systems in Saskatchewan and the community,” Ramsey explained. “I’m here to help them find solutions to their problems and I’ll do whatever I can that way.”

The centre itself isn’t a unique venture -- other communities have similar facilities up and running, which led to Ramsey looking into putting together one in Moose Jaw in late November. She didn’t have to look hard to find the room, either.

“I noticed we had this space at this time that was a large, warm space but completely full of stuff since it was being used as storage,” Ramsey said of the area in the Pride building.

“So I was thinking to myself ‘there has to be a better use for this place other than storing boxes’ and as the temperatures were dropping, I thought what if people could come in and warm up like other places are doing around the continent. We moved forward and started planning from there.”

The plan going forward is to keep the warming centre open until at least April when spring temperatures begin to take hold. After that, it’ll be a matter of seeing what services are necessary.

“There is a possibility for it to become something like a cooling centre in the summer and still be a hub where people can access services, but we’ll see what happens,” Ramsey said.