The sale of a commercial building on First Avenue last month has now forced the early closure of a community program helping to cloth those in need during the winter months.
The Ladysmith Resources Centre Association’s Coats for Folks was using the building at 710 First Avenue for the second straight year.
Program coordinator Karen Kent said the reality of losing the space has been tough.
“It’s been a great location,” she said. “A lot people knew where we were here and it’s central because the Food Bank is just around the corner, the cold weather shelter is just across the street.”
All of the electricity for the building both this year and last was fully donated.
Coats served upwards of 39 a day while donations also reached 31 in a day.
Tuesday was always a busier because of the Food Bank being open up the street at the LRCA.
“Everybody who would come into town for Food Bank would come into Coats for Folks after,” she said, adding that she witnessed this year the real need for having this program available to the public.
“It’s repeat people who were here last year and coming in more often this year. You could tell they really needed the stuff, which was great.”
Realtor Greg Buchanan said the building has been on and off the market for several years and conditions for the sale were removed in late December.
“Commercial property has been tough with some vacancies but it’s definitely looking good for the future in Ladysmith,” he said.
The building sold for $470,000, which was close to asking price, but the new tenant could not be made public because of prior lease agreements that need to be fulfilled.
Coats for Folks officially vacated the building as of earlier last week.
However, complicating matters this year has been the need to store things such as several boxes of hangers as well as nine racks donated by Sears.
Kent is storing the majority the belongings in a a spare room in her building until next winter.
She said it’s unclear if Coats for Folks might change next season but scaling back to only focus on essential winter clothing might be part of the solution.
Coats started as a program for children and was later expanded to also serve adults.
“We’re doing it for the cold season to keep people warm,” Kent said. “I think it just needs to focus on just the coats, warm boots, toques, scarves, socks, because we’re not going to have a space like this again.”
One of the big donations received this year was from the family of a previous volunteer. They brought in several dozen socks and gift cards.
Upwards of 10 volunteers, including Kent who was there three days a week, kept Coats open from October to December.
“Our thing this year was if the sign is out then we’re open and it didn’t matter if it was one volunteer helping people, they knew that were here,” she said.
“It’s going to be sad not to have it here but I’m really hoping that we’ll be able to find some sort of space next year because it is a good thing that goes on.”