A Big Year for Souls’ Harbour
January 9, 2019
Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is a growing Christian ministry located on Cunard Street in Halifax — just a few minutes away from Deep Water! It was founded by Rev. Ken and Michelle Porter, who have spent 20 years working with hungry, homeless, abused and addicted populations in Canada’s inner cities. Through the Drop-In centre, Souls Harbour serves up to 100 hot lunches every weekday, with locations in Truro and Bridgewater as well. In February of last year, Deep Water Reach Out partnered with Souls Harbour to fund an evening meal at the Halifax centre on the first Friday of every month. These dinners are served to the guests entirely by volunteers from Deep Water, and each month we’ve had a group of around 10-15 people show up to help. For December’s meal, the fabulous Riptide youth group took over the night! Serving a meal at Souls Harbour is a great opportunity to connect with other people from the church, and show love to those in our community who are in need. So gather a friend or two (or your entire small group!) and sign up through the Deep Water Events page. The next dinner will be on Friday, February 1st, and you can contact Andrea at andrea.ewer@gmail.com with any questions. There are also opportunities to serve lunchtime meals at the Souls Harbour Drop-In centre throughout the week. The shift would be from 12:45-3:30 on weekdays, or 11:30-1:30 on Saturdays. This would be serving food at tables and helping to clean up after. Check out the Souls Harbour Facebook page for openings, which is updated every Sunday evening. With so many meals to prepare, food donations are always welcome at the Drop-In centre. Along with their meal program, Souls Harbour runs Mission Mart, a newly opened thrift store at 265 Susie Lake Crescent in Bayer’s Lake, where 100% of the proceeds go to support their ministry. Volunteers are always needed here, to help sort donations, restock racks and shelves, or work the cash. If you’re interested in helping out, fill out an application and Souls Harbour will get back to you about scheduling a shift. Donations of clothing, household items, and furniture can be dropped off at the Mission Mart during open hours.
Last year Souls Harbour was excited to announce the construction a Life Recovery Shelter at their Cunard Street location, which should be up and running very soon. The shelter will offer a recovery program to up to 10 men at a time who are in the margins, either just coming out of prison or recovering from issues such as addiction, homelessness, or joblessness. It is clear that Souls Harbour is an active and influential ministry in Halifax. As a church, let’s join hands with them and be a small part of the meaningful work they are doing to spread the love of Christ in our city.
“You’re here to be light. Bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand — shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt peopleto open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16, MSG)