Changes are coming to Royal City Mission’s operating hours in the new year.
Previously open six days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., the downtown charity will be open seven days a week from noon to 7 p.m. starting Jan 1.
The four-hour reduction is due to financial constraints and a “massive” increase in use of their services, said executive director and pastor Kevin Coghill.
“Looking ahead to the New Year, we do not have the resources to be able to maintain the same operating hours,” Coghill said in a news release.
Throughout 2023, RCM served more than 80,000 meals with over 52,000 visits to the drop-in program. The total number of meals served is up by 37 per cent compared to last year, and the number of unique individuals accessing services is up by 30 per cent.
“We’re basically (seeing) an extra 50 people per day accessing the drop-in,” Coghill said.
Due to financial constraints, RCM was also unable to renew the contracts of seven staff this month. However, Coghill said the reduced hours make scheduling easier, so they won’t necessarily be short staffed.
It’s not all bad though: the added day is a welcome change, and something Coghill said the community has needed for a long time.
Coghill said the biggest gap in community services, especially when it comes to the cold weather response, is in the evenings and weekends. That’s why they’re remaining open from noon to 7 p.m. and adding Sunday to their operational times.
It’s something he said they and other organizations have been hearing for a long time from the downtown community.
“Our community was quite excited about that, even though it was a reduction in hours,” he said. “This move will make us more accessible to our community and meet a major need in Guelph.”
Operating for 12 hours a day, they weren’t able to add that extra day before. But at seven-hour days, they can.
“And we’re already getting volunteers that want to help us out on a Sunday, so it looks pretty good,” he said.
While he said they would consider going back to 12 hour days if they could raise the funds, “the trend is not looking like that’s a possibility.”
They’re also still in need of funds to sustain their operating hours.
Coghill said the city gave them enough to cover about three hours a day, six days a week until the end of March.
“March is not quite warm enough to not have extended services,” he said. “So we've already secured funding for (an additional) three hours a day to remain open.”
That means six hours are covered, three of them for only six days a week. Coghill said they’re now on the hunt for corporate sponsors and partners to help them fund the full seven hours, seven days a week.
“We’re moving ahead with our goal, because we want to make sure we can keep people as warm as possible for the next three to four months,” he said.
