Connaught Motor Inn a chance to help those in need

During my hiatus last week, I attended the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. It was very well organized, the seats were full, and our addressors, Member of Parliament Bob Zimmer and Mayor Lynn Hall, spoke at length about poverty, quoting the lines “whatever you do for the least of these...”

I was deeply moved, and reminded of an opportunity that is right in front of all of us with the eyes to see it: the Connaught Motor Inn as a major recovery and housing centre.

A few months ago, I was approached by a member of Sunrise New Directions Society, an organization dedicated to helping men in recovery, about a very ambitious project: to make the Connaught at 15th Avenue and Victoria Street a multi-service residence, including addictions recovery, seniors housing, and student space to assist with these services. He even made a point about getting the restaurant running again as a place of employment and a revenue stream for the project.

The tentative cost of this vision is hefty: nearly $4 million for the purchase of the property and an additional $2 million for the renovations necessary to improve the building. Yet the need for such a facility as well as the waste of the vacancy in said location is obvious; even more important is the fact that as a non-profit society, the operating costs of the programing and services offered at the Connaught would be kept off the public purse, which is an enormous savings.

Also, faith groups in this city already cooperate on dozens of different levels, which is the exact kind of groundwork needed for such a project.

In fact the particular challenges of this proposal are really just that it would be one of the largest combinations of all these activities at once and that each step along the way would require long term commitment from the parties involved.

Then again, our creed tells us to walk by faith, especially “for the least of these.”

Being our brother’s keeper is a holy order that predates the Ten Commandments, and in both testaments, how we care for those in need echoes into eternity. This project, ambitious as it might seem, is a chance for people of faith in our city to unite on a scale worthy of our traditions and talents. As we draw closer to Easter, we’d do well to recall Christ’s last prayer for us: that his followers might be one body.

We have that chance with the Connaught Motor Inn.