It’s unclear what the future of the Sparrow’s Hope women’s shelter is, but its doors have been closed for the past six months.
Marjorie Steele, who was hired as the resident director of the shelter in January 2012, said she left her position in May 2013 and the resident house parents left the facility in August.
She said the facility had suffered flood damage in the spring, making the basement rooms uninhabitable and limiting its capacity.
“I just found it was difficult to continue in the position when we couldn’t take women,” she said. “We could take only one at a time.”
Ben Kellert, the past director of Youth for Christ — the organization that runs the shelter — confirmed in mid-February the doors had closed “for a couple months” and the facility was in a transition, looking for someone to run the facility.
“The house parents we had out there resigned, and that’s just part of the transition,” he said. “We’re just looking at some folks here to get them in there, get reconnected and get started.”
Kellert resigned his position with Youth for Christ effective the end of February, and he said the board is in the process of looking for his replacement.
The shelter first opened its doors in the spring of 2011, with use of the facility itself being donated by a County of Barrhead resident. Furnishing and supplies were also donated by members of the community, including one man who offered to pay two years worth of utility bills.
It has been a faith-based initiative from the get-go, with only limited contributions from governments — Westlock County provided a $3,500 operating grant in March 2011.
At the time, Kellert said he wasn’t concerned about the lack of government funding, since there was such a positive response from private donors.
Nonetheless, the organization was making efforts to become part of the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, which would have been another avenue of potential funding.
Unfortunately, the application was unsuccessful.
“We didn’t have a mission statement; the mission statement sent along with it was for Youth for Christ, so we got denied,” Steele said. “After that I don’t know what happened.”
Neither Kellert nor Youth for Christ board chair Dave Nelson could be reached for comment last week, but Steele said she thought repairs were being made to the facility and it may reopen soon, which is definitely good news.
“There is a need, a great need,” she said.
