Hope Cottage News
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Hope Cottage News| Volume 1 Issue 3 | July 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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After much talk, and a lot of waiting, the addition to Hope
Cottage has started. The Building Permit was issued by HRM on Tuesday,
June 29, and construction started on Friday, July 02. Hope Cottage Board has selected Bayshore Contracting as Project Managers for the addition. To date we have received tremendous cooperation and support from the community and industry. We are most grateful to the following businesses who have contributed freely of their time and expertise to the addition: Jacques Whitford (Archeological Report), Harvey and MacKenzie (Architectural Plans and presentation to Heritage Committee), Malcolm Pinto Engineering Limited (Structural Design) and Dumac Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical Design). We also wish to express our appreciation to our good neighbour Elvis Mantley for his cooperation in allowing us to access the construction through the parking lot to the north of the Cottage. To date (July 09) the rear of the building has been removed, and the footings have been poured. The front part, and the original "Hope Cottage", will remain in its un-altered condition. The construction will start to accelerate once the foundation walls and basement floor is poured, so if you are in the area, drop by and have a look, and watch us grow. |
 (Michael Burke photo) The exterior walls of the addition will also be stuccoed to give the completed building a uniform appearance from the north and south elevations. The present schedule calls for completion by early October 1999. In order to give everyone enough notice, we are planning an official "ribbon cutting" on Monday Oct 11, Thanksgiving day! So mark your calendar, and come on down and join us for this long awaited day. We have not yet finalized the time of day and other details, but these will be available in the October Issue of the Newsletter. Hope Cottage continues to operate from the basement of St. Patrick’s Church. We must emphasize that we are still in business as usual during the construction period so feel free to come by and visit us in our temporary quarters. |
| 1999 Quarterly Stats | |||||||||||||||||
| Month | Women | At Door | Total | Average per Day |
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| April | 208 | 253 | 3530 | 161 | |||||||||||||
| May | 233 | 280 | 3380 | 160 | |||||||||||||
| June | 276 | 285 | 3889 | 190 | |||||||||||||
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After considerable discussion with staff, the Board and our Contractor,
it was decided that we would approach St. Patrick’s Church to see if we could
move into their basement for a few months. St. Patrick’s were extremely
gracious and obliging to us. We finally concluded that we would move in for
the first week of June. We notified the guys that we would only have one
meal on Friday May 28, and we would move on Friday and Saturday, May 28, 29. The staff started packing in early May. They also had to move everything out of the back rooms as these were scheduled to be demolished as part of the addition. The staff worked very diligently and, as a result, we were ready on time. We hired a moving company to move our freezers, convection oven and food stuffs. The move went like clockwork, and we opened our doors at St. Pat’s on Monday, May 30. Things are going very smoothly at St. Pat’s with increased numbers of people coming to us daily. Staff, volunteers and our guests are completely at home in our temporary quarters. There are people coming to us whom we have not seen in years, |
 (Michael Burke photo) some because they can now approach the door from the north parking lot, away from the view of Brunswick St. traffic. We have now been in St. Pats for seven weeks, and things are running well, but all concerned are now anxiously awaiting the completion of the "old -- new" quarters. The completion is scheduled for October, with "Ribbon Cutting" for Thanksgiving Day. |
| Director's Corner Summer is here and we are camped in St. Patrick’s while we build our addition. Summer is also a time for vacations, and we at Hope Cottage are no different. Maxine, Leona and Kevin will be holidaying over the next couple of months. n anticipation of getting a Building Permit from HRM, we moved into St. Pat’s on May 28th. As luck would have it, we did not get our permit for another month. There was a lot of apprehension on both sides prior to moving. We are happy to report that all concerns have been addressed, and we have proven to be acceptable tenants and St. Pat’s a very obliging and gracious host. All of our usual guests have been joining us at St. Pat’s, in addition some new folk have been coming, mainly because they do not have to line up in front of the building. The men and women enter through the lower door on the north side, going down the driveway and gathering in the north parking lot, away from the view of passing traffic on Brunswick St. The people are also much more relaxed in the large open space of the Church hall. The new Hope Cottage will also be much more spacious than the original. There were a few tears shed when the back of Hope Cottage was torn down. A lot of our older guests have been visiting Hope Cottage for many years, and the old building had a lot of sentimental |
value, and while we have been talking about this
addition for going on three years now, there is something final about
removing half the building. Everyone is looking forward to the addition,
and being able to return to our home. Kevin Connors (Michael Burke photo)  Kevin Connors, the third longest serving staff member at Hope Cottage is our doorperson. His responsibilities include, ensureing a safe environment for staff, volunteers and clients during meal hours. Kevin has been with us since 1991. When Kevin is not working the door he has a number of other related duties which include maintenance of the facility and stocking of food donations. Kevin is married with two children. Kevin enjoys working at Hope Cottage and tormenting his co-workers. He enjoys sports, music and being referred to as "chopped liver". Kevin has been known to call Max on her answering machine and bark at her cats to relieve stress. |
Layout & Production:
J.C.
Canales-Leyton/
Street Feat, The Voice of The Poor