Samaritan House Ministries is unveiling a new mural at their downtown Brandon location on Pacific Avenue. The outdoor wall painting will be on the side where their entrance to their Safe and Warm shelter welcomes folks into that part of the building.
The Safe & Warm Shelter provides 41 beds, with 25 of those being funded by the Province of Manitoba. The remaining 16 beds if funded by Samaritan House Ministries through their financial supporters.
Executive Director, Heather Symbalisty, says the mural creates more of a welcoming atmosphere to take away from the more industrial feel to the building.
"As we all know accessing an emergency shelter can have the stigma attached to it, so we just wanted to create something that was a little bit warmer and more welcoming, that shows them it's just a space that's non-judgmental," shares Symbalisty. "So we wanted to add a little, bit of warmth and caring and love to the individuals that we help."
The mural was funded by the BNRC and Healthy Living, providing grants to have the mural painted. "Without that we wouldn't have been able to do that," she says. "It's important that in a year where donations are down that we try to get those donations up so we can keep those 16 beds open for this winter."
"We have 41 beds in that space. 25 of those beds are funded by the province of Manitoba. So we support the 16 beds that are not funded currently by the province of Manitoba. We are able to finance those beds through donations and the Westman-Brandon community."
Tell us about the Mural!
"The mural is on the back of our building at 820 Pacific Avenue. It takes up a majority of the back wall there where the door is to the safe and warm shelter. So we've gotten the artists to paint the door and the back brick in quite a large mural to help cover that space with just something warmer."
"As you look at it, you'll notice there are different things, there's different concepts that we kind of tried to create to make it very welcoming. So, on the top of each window there is a nest for a for a bird painted on the wall where it starts out with an egg and then it moves forward to each window and then it shows it eventually flying off. And that's our hopes and a representation of clients who access our services," shares Symbalisty.
"You know we find them in very vulnerable states a majority of the time and we want to create that safe, warm space for them and so that they can build up their confidence and then spread their wings," she explains. "We want to connect them with resources so that they can move on from safe and warm and be independent wherever that they go ahead to live. So that's that was the idea behind that that piece."
At Thursday's official unveiling, Symbalisty will be sharing more on the mural and the symbolism that it features.
A Collaborative Effort!
"I want to make sure to do a special thank you to our artists, Chris, Jace, Juanita, Lydia, and Ali, who helped us pull the concept together. They did all of the chalk work of the outline and then did all of the painting during the heat and the rain this summer, which I think it took them about approximately about seven weeks for them to pull it all together and get it all accomplished."
Symbalisty says the mural was a collaborative effort with their shelter manager, Heather Bolech, who came up with the idea of a mural on the back wall of their building, and then getting the group collectively together to help make that vision come through.
it was very collaborative. And I also want to send out a special thank you to Heather, who is our shelter manager who came up with the idea for a mural back on the back wall of our building and then we're we got working together as a group collectively here to to.
"The food bank coordinators came up with some ideas to further along the project. So yeah, it's just been very collaborative and very, it's been fantastic to experience and to enjoy seeing them all work together to make it happen. Eventually we want to continue the mural around the whole building. So, it's wonderful! Yeah, we're very excited!"
How can we help?
The economy is taking its toll on so many people, and Samaritan House Ministries welcomes any financial donation folks could possibly give to help keep those 16 beds open for the vulnerable population. As well, they welcome donations of new socks and underwear for their clients.
"It's just so fantastic to see the community step up and provide that when we do a call out," she shares, "and we can always use more because we do go through quite a bit. And then just food donations ... it's so fantastic to see that when people have something that they think of the safe and warm shelter to donate like sandwiches or just something that they've had at a function that they can bring to us and share like we've had cake shared and you know all kinds of different things."
"It just so heartwarming to see that we're able to provide some hearty, nutritious food to the clients who access our services because that can be a challenge with our finances and budgeting," adds Symbalisty. "So when we have that opportunity, it is like handing out what Heather Bolech says ... a bowl of love ... and just to know that stomachs are full for at least one night. So yeah, it makes a huge difference."
