For seniors using the group as a support system, there’s really nothing like the North End Wellness Elders.
The Winnipeg program has been offering daily warm meals, good conversation and a sense of community to hundreds of seniors over the last decade.
Four of those years have been spent rent-free at the Ralph Brown Community Centre, but come next week, the group will be searching for a new home.
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The community centre has notified the group that the informal agreement to lend the area to the seniors is changing. Centre president Nathan Wild told Global News Saturday that they need to reclaim the storage space the group currently uses in order to provide other programming to the community.
Wild made it clear the centre was not kicking the group out of the entire space, but said they are no longer allowed in the large storage room they occupy.
North End Wellness Elders creator Duncan Christie said it’s a major blow because without the room, the group cannot store the thousands of donated items that they distribute to those in need every day.
“We’ve got until next Friday to get everything out,” Christie said.
For organizers and volunteers, that means the search for a new venue is on.
The seniors that currently utilize the program to get free meals, bus tickets, field trips or gym time call it an unfair situation.
Dennis Pelisek has lived in the North End for decades and said that the group is his connection to the neighbourhood.
“Some people are struggling to eat, some people are struggling with loneliness,” Pelisek said. “I’m battling stage four cancer and I found several other seniors here who are in the same battle.
“It’s going to hurt. It’s really going to hurt.”
Pelisek took in one of the group’s last meals at the Ralph Brown Community Centre on Saturday.
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“When you leave you go back home inspired, blessed and happy that you’re in the neighbourhood,” Pelisek said through tears. “There really isn’t anything like this exclusively for seniors. It’s going to be a big loss.”
The North End Wellness Elders have reached out to their local politicians for help but said on Saturday they had yet to hear back.
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