On December 5, 2018 the North Cowichan Mayor and Council gave their support and approved a temporary-use permit for the Women’s Winter shelter that as of December 20th has offered homeless Cowichan women a warm place to sleep and have some dinner and breakfast. The Women’s Winter Shelter is open from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. until the end of March 2019. There has been a lot of work to convert a school district concession stand into a 15-bed emergency shelter for women.

First, was enlisting the help of many hands-on volunteers who coordinated their efforts and skills to do some rather involved renovations to install a second hot water tank to increase capacity for showers, and set up space for a washer and dryer. Than were the carloads of donations from community members who rushed to help, with some even running their own donation pages on Facebook to keep the most needed donations arriving.

We would like to acknowledge BC Housing, United Way, and the many private donors who helped to make the Women’s Night Shelter a reality.