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In February, many in North Battleford were worried about the future of the community’s lone homeless shelter.
That included Lighthouse staff member Suzanna Crozier. She and partner Brian Arcand were worried about the mental health of the clients the Lighthouse deals with, as its impending closure loomed.
The pair decided to contact local teen mental-health advocate Hailey Rose, who had delivered care packages to youth on the Mosquito First Nation near the Christmas season.
“All it took was just a text,” Rose said Tuesday. “I can’t even take the recognition for this. They supported me so much and they were so devoted to (the Lighthouse). They wear their hearts on their sleeves.”
With rallies being held at North Battleford City Hall following the announcement Feb. 27 of the Lighthouse’s closure, those mental-health packages were already being prepared by Rose, Crozier and Arcand.
A rally held in front of North Battleford City Hall to call on saving the North Battleford Lighthouse. (Hailey Rose/Submitted)
“I’ve seen the impact they make on the people … I ended up finding some funding from the We Matter organization. The next couple of days, I broke the news to Brian and Suzy, and they were just so excited. Their faces lit up … They knew what it was going to do for the people at the homeless shelter,” Rose explained.
“We can’t imagine how low (clients’) mental health would go if the Lighthouse did ever shut down. Where would our homeless (community) go? Where would that put us in the community?”
When Crozier and Arcand approached Rose, they told her the facility was just coming off a closure due to at least one positive COVID-19 case.
Through February, Rose created 25 self-care packages that were delivered within the second week of March.
“When we handed out these packages — we did it last week — we put (comfort) food, chips, chocolate bars, some pop and some mitts in there,” she said. “We put some gift cards in there (and) some basic necessities like a toothbrush.”
Rose described some of the reactions from clients when the packages were delivered.
“They were starting to worry about where they’d go,” she said. “They were just so thankful. And I think a lot of people are frightened when they go around people who might be homeless. But to me, they were so thankful and I never (have) seen smiles so big.
“It just filled my heart,” she added. “We saw the biggest smiles, and we saw family and we saw relationships were built. People were thanking us with smiles on their faces.”
On March 6, the facility in North Battleford — which was to close in April — was given funding to operate until the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding came from Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS).
In the media release announcing the funding, MNS said it has also entered into discussions with the Battlefords Agency Tribal Council to assess ways to address homelessness within the community.