Web firm connects with Mission
The New Life Mission needs cash — and the 30-year-old downtown Kamloops institution is hoping it will come from the local business community.
“Basically, we’re looking at new ways of generating corporate support,” said Kelly Row, the mission’s new executive director.
“We’ve got people who make individual donations, but the real spot where we don’t have a lot is corporations and businesses [supporting] the mission.”
Row said local Internet company Send Out Cards is the first corporation to come on board, donating $1.50 from each sale to the mission.
“We are encouraged by the initial response,” Row said.
“We are hoping this announcement will encourage other corporations to come up with innovative ways they can get involved and help support our programs.”
Row said corporations can sponsor different aspects of the mission.
“You can sponsor recovery rooms, the day rooms, the building itself on West Victoria,” he said, adding the mission has high hopes for the corporate-sponsorship program.
“We’re hoping somewhere over $200,000.”
Row said the mission has debts of about $70,000 — a vast improvement on the $200,000 they carried last fall, but still troubling.
If the debt isn’t erased, he said, it might force the closure of the mission’s long-term recovery beds.
“We don’t want to have to change our programs drastically, but, if we look at it and say, ‘Maybe we can’t afford to do that,’ then who knows?” he said.
“Long-term recovery is very expensive.”
Row said provincial funding provides the mission with $40 per night for each long-term recovery bed in use.
The problem, he said, is that the beds cost about $120 per night to operate.
He said the problem isn’t unique to Kamloops; a mission in Kelowna is closing its recovery beds this year to focus more
on transitional housing.
Right now, the New Life Mission has 30 recovery beds for men and 15 for women.
More than 20 of the men’s beds are occupied, while 12 of the women’s beds are in use.
For more information about the mission or to learn how to donate, go online to newlifemission.ca.
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