Prince Albert rallies in support of Salvation Army following devastating fire

Following a devastating fire at the Salvation Army building, Prince Albert was left without a warming centre. Jasmine Pelletier has the story.

Prince Albert is coming together in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Salvation Army building on Christmas Day.

On Tuesday, almost 50 volunteers prepared and served lunch at the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Urban Services temporary warming centre.

“I just said, I’m looking for anyone to help to serve soup, sandwiches and desserts for December 30,” Pamela Booker told CTV.

Booker, chairperson for the Calvary United Church Council, used the church and her connections to assemble the lunch volunteer group.

PAGC has been hosting the temporary warming centre after a Christmas Day fire destroyed the Salvation Army building and original warming centre.

The community has since responded with an outpouring of support.

“All the people that access those services and the Salvation Army family are our neighbors in the city,” said Booker. “We can’t lose this service for people that are vulnerable and need it.”

• Get the latest news from Saskatoon, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Booker said there was enough food left over to leave some for the evening centre visitors and to bring food to other local charities.

The group collected an additional $2,100 in monetary donations.

The Calvary United lunch volunteers also sorted through a bus full of clothing donations that the Prince Albert Raiders collected at the Monday night game.

Along with the clothing the Raiders made a $8,500 financial donation from the 50/50, half the Raiders share, and said it sold far more tickets than usual.

“Probably triple of what we normally would sell,” said Raiders business manager Mike Scissons. “You know, that’s another example of just the community coming together.”

Lake Country Co-op VP of consumer operations and innovation Geoff German said the Lake Country Co-op pitched in with $750 of food for the temporary centre.

“We heard there was a need for immediate sandwiches and lunch meats and breakfast cereals and stuff like that. So, that was something that we decided to donate,” he said.

This week, the Salvation Army told CTV it’s a way away from a complete rebuild but said the community has been generous with support.

The city told CTV that a more permanent location has been found in the union building downtown, where the shelter will likely be moving this week.