Nova ScotiaThe Windsor-West Hants Caremonger Society says it was hoping to use provincial funds to run a warming centre every night this winter, but the current municipal space would need a significant overhaul to meet the province’s requirements.Caremongers group say they cannot meet current requirements for provincial funding Haley Ryan · CBC News · Posted: Dec 03, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A tent is set up on the outskirts of Windsor, N.S. in this file photo from 2024. Municipal politicians and the area MLA say an overnight shelter is delayed because of a local volunteer group, who argue the blame is unfair. (Grey Butler/CBC)An overnight warming centre is expected to open in West Hants on a limited basis after timing and funding problems dashed hopes that it would operate seven days a week.Leslie Porter, founder and president of the Windsor-West Hants Caremongers volunteer group said she’d hoped provincial funding would cover the cost of staffing the warming centre at the Hants Aquatic Centre in Windsor this winter. But this week she said the province’s requirements are numerous, and could not be met this year.The funding requires a commercial kitchen, heating and winterizing the aquatic centre, and $5 million in liability insurance, Porter said in an update Tuesday she also posted to social media.”There is no way we can find a space that is suitable for the province in order to qualify for the funding at this time,” Porter wrote.Caremongers had operated the warming centre the past two years, relying on donations the first year and $50,000 in municipal funding from the West Hants Regional Municipality last year to pay for overnight staff. But the group was inactive over the summer due to Porter’s involvement and injury in a car accident, and Porter said they had not planned to operate the centre again.However, Porter said provincial staff with the Department of Opportunities and Social Development contacted her in October and urged her to register the group as a non-profit in order to access provincial funding, given that no other group had responded to the municipality’s offer to use the aquatic centre again. Caremongers president Leslie Porter (centre) sits with board member Alyssa Hughes (left) and MP Kody Blois (right) in the warming centre at the Hants Aquatic Centre in winter 2025. (Leslie Porter)Porter agreed, but said the months-long delay pushed the entire enterprise back. While she was working with the province to secure funding, the West Hants diversity and inclusive communities committee asked council last Tuesday to provide $60,000 to launch the centre immediately.A municipal staff report explaining the request said even if the provincial funding came through, the centre would likely not open before January. The committee felt an interim municipal response was “essential to protect vulnerable residents in the immediate term,” the report said. “It was a surprise, to be honest,” Mayor Abraham Zebian said in a recent interview. “You just don’t hear anything about it until we’re to the point where things should be organized.”Mayor Abraham Zebian of the West Hants Regional Municipality says council decided this summer to offer the physical space for a warming centre, not staffing funds. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)Zebian and other councillors said during the meeting that the funding is a provincial responsibility and, given financial constraints, they would not approve the use of municipal funds. The motion was not seconded or voted on.The council decision prompted a social media backlash from angry West Hants residents. Mayor Zebian posted on Facebook that the municipality had done what it could but the group behind the shelter “moved slowly.”Porter said she was also surprised to see the committee’s request to council, because it did not come from her group.“We didn’t ask for [municipal] funds, and we were very appreciative of what the municipality had offered in the building itself,” Porter said last Thursday.Carley Smith, a spokesperson with Opportunities and Social Development, said in an email Monday that work had been underway with Caremongers to confirm their readiness, including insurance, governance, facility suitability, and operational standards. Critics, supporters weigh inThe MLA for the area, Progressive Conservative Melissa Sheehy-Richard, said her office and West Hants municipal staff had urged Caremongers “long, long” before this summer to become a non-profit in order to access provincial funding.If Caremongers had done so, Sheehy-Richard said they could be running a full-time shelter by now.”They would have staff, they would have a building, they would be able to offer this service year-round, 365 days a year, not just when it gets cold,” Sheehy-Richard said.Kimm Kent, director of Peer Outreach Support Services and Education (POSSE) in Windsor, said her group is not equipped to run an overnight shelter and was relieved to see Caremongers step up. But, Kent had hoped the West Hants municipality would offer bridge funding for the shelter until possible provincial money landed.”Why are we pointing fingers? Like whose jurisdiction is it right now? Do the thing and fight about it later,” Kent said Monday.Kimm Kent is the director of the Peer Outreach Support Services and Education, or the Possee Project, based in Windsor, N.S. (Grey Butler/CBC)”If an artery is bleeding out, we’re not asking who’s paying for it before we actually make sure that we’re saving a limb.”Porter said she feels her group has been “thrown under the bus” by both municipal and provincial politicians.“It seems like they’re trying to shift the blame on a volunteer organization that has stepped up the last couple of years … it’s pretty gut wrenching.”Shelter to open Friday, Saturday, SundayPorter said the Caremongers board has decided to open the warming shelter at the aquatic facility as soon as possible, but with reduced hours given the capacity of volunteers.The plan will be to open Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., Porter said.If they get more volunteers than expected, Porter said the hours may be expanded, but the group will aim for consistency so people don’t expect to come to the centre for the night only to find it closed.Porter said she will update the community when an opening date has been finalized.A GoFundMe campaign called West Hants—Windsor Unhoused is also crowdfunding for the shelter, and had raised nearly $5,000 of its $20,000 goal as of Tuesday.MORE TOP STORIES ABOUT THE AUTHORHaley Ryan is the municipal affairs reporter for CBC covering mainland Nova Scotia. Got a story idea? Send an email to haley.ryan@cbc.ca, or reach out on Twitter @hkryan17.
Volunteers forego provincial funding to run West Hants warming centre alone
