EDITORIAL – Mustard Seed’s approach to shelter is a lesson in consultation
(Image: CFJC Today)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
A LESSON IN COMMUNICATION played out in City council chambers Tuesday afternoon.
It was the regular weekly meeting of Kamloops City council with the usual agenda, which included a section for delegations.
One of those delegations was from the Mustard Seed social agency, which will open an extreme-weather shelter at the Kamloops Alliance Church beginning tonight. That is, it will open between 10 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. when the temperature dips to 10 below and/or there’s five cm. of snow. Or a severe-weather warning.
If the temperature threshold isn’t met tonight, it certainly will be over the next while.
The project is being done in a unique partnership with the church and with funding support from BC Housing.
Mustard Seed managing director Kelly Thomson described the consultation process the agency used to alert neighbouring residents and businesses to plans for the shelter.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Yeah about BC Housing and especially the City of Kamloops adopting a true listen and engage with residents and other stakeholders strategy in a meaningful, truthful way? Many years of not doing that sure had repercussions, City of Kamloops!