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The latest refuge for Kelowna's homeless begins taking people in today. The Welcome Inn, at the Metro Community Church on Ellis Street, is starting by admitting 12, with plans to ramp up to as many as 40 over the winter.
"The space is feeling good and we're getting ready to just have people come in and be comfortable," said Co-ordinator Jason Siebenga. But even as the shelter begins to take people in, he is feeling pressures that are heart-wrenching. "The 12 we're going to be bringing in are from Cornerstone, and so we had six more come in and say 'can we get in' and they're desperate and we had to say we can only take the 12 tonight, but we're going to try to ramp it up as quickly as possible."
"We can't fail," added Siebenga. "We're worried if we bring everybody in, it's not best practice and could just have the operations collapse."
Telling people who are still sleeping outside, that they can't come in, at least not yet, is difficult. "Without a tent, all six of these people," he said. "So that's the tough part."
Siebenga said, homelessness shouldn't be looked upon as a provincial problem or a city problem, but instead as a community problem. "And we need to come together and I think truly it's humanity, it's community, it's our friends out there on the street. If we can gather around, I really think we can make that difference."
Over 200 people have already stepped forward to volunteer at the Welcome Inn, but they could still use more.
"We've got to get ahead of this," added Siebenga. "It's not fair to tell people 'you've got to move', but not tell them they can move anywhere."
The facility could eventually take in as many as forty people, but it's still just a winter shelter. The plan is to close-up at the end of March.
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