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Albert revisited
Best in the biz
A year ago we told you the story of a homeless, drug addicted former pastor and his unlikely friendship with a businessman. Find out where he is now.
The Richmond Chamber of Commerce hosted it’s 33rd Annual Business Excellence Awards Wednesday.
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ST. ALBAN’S
Inn From Cold ready to roll Homeless shelter prepares as temperatures drop BY ALAN CAMPBELL
acampbell@richmond-news.com
With the first blast of winter set to hit Richmond this weekend, a small army of volunteers is bracing itself to help the city’s homeless survive through the night. St. Alban’s Church’s extreme weather shelter — now called Inn from the Cold — has been busy recruiting from the community to prepare for another season of long, cold and wet nights. And with snow forecasted for Friday and Saturday and temperatures set to plummet to -3 C on Sunday, Inn from the Cold’s team of more than 50 trained volunteers is ready to kick into action. Should the City of Richmond sound an extreme weather alert (-2 C or colder or a combination of low temperatures and wet weather), the team will be called in to help the shelter provide emergency beds to Richmond’s homeless population at the church’s hall on St. Alban’s Road. The alert was issued for 23 nights last winter, but the shelter could be open for more nights this season, with forecasters predicting one of — Larry the harshest winters in decades. “We’re putting the wheels in motion. We’ll make a decision for sure on Friday morning at 10 a.m.,” said Inn from the Cold’s Larry McIntyre. McIntyre said that with snow forecast, however, it’s almost certain that the shelter will open its doors for the first time. “With our variable winter weather, you never know when an alert will be issued, so our team has to be trained and ready to go at a moment’s notice,” said St. Alban’s extreme weather committee co-chair Victor Farmer. “Our food committee has been preparing and freezing food, the bedding is laundered and the furnace repaired. “Volunteers and staff are lined up and we hosted a comprehensive training pro-
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Extreme weather shelter volunteers go through their training last week at St. Alban’s.
gram for our entire team last Saturday.” The News highlighted earlier in the fall the need for people to come forward and help St. Alban’s extreme weather shelter. St. Alban’s provides the facility, BC Housing partially funds the shelter operational costs, but the rest is dependent on donations to make up the balance of the costs. Donations of food, warm weather clothing and basic hygiene products are always welcome at the shelter. For more information or to make a McIntyre donation, call 604278-2770 or email InnFromTheColdRichmond@gmail.com. Meanwhile, the City of Richmond’s preparations for this weekend’s cold snap are in place. The roads department has been in frequent contact with its own weather advisor, who is forecasting a 55 per cent chance of snowfall on Friday and Saturday. “We plan to get some salt on the ground first to deal with the predicted frost,” said the city’s roads manager Ben Dias. “If there’s any snow, we’ve been told it won’t be more than two centimetres. But we can have our (snow plows) out there within the hour if needed.” see related story page 4
“We’re putting the wheels in motion. We’ll make a decision for sure on Friday morning.”
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Magdalen Leung and Richmond Fire-Rescue’s Kirby Graham decorate the main tree at Richmond City Hall in an effort to transform the place into Winter Wonderland. The Richmond Sunset Rotary Club hosts the Winter Wonderland, which features 30 elaborately decorated trees, each sponsored to the tune of $1,500 by various organizations and individuals. The money raised will go towards supporting various Rotary charities both at home and abroad.