We wish Souls Harbour Rescue Mission the best and encourage you to vote to help them out. It’s easy (and you can vote daily until December 10th). #SoulsHarbour
Release:
Souls Harbour Is Number One Across Canada In Fight For A New Kitchen
Souls Harbour Rescue Mission has opened up a lead to first place in a national contest that offers a grand prize of a $100,000 for a kitchen makeover.
HALIFAX, NS, December 8, 2014 – Souls Harbour is trying to win a new kitchen for Christmas. With 3 days left of the Aviva Community Fund Semi-Finals, they find themselves with the most votes, after a busy weekend of tweeting, handing out 25,000 flyers, and garnering support from over 4600 individuals and businesses. They are trying to keep their lead to win a commercialized kitchen for the 25,000 meals they serve to the homeless each year.
They finished at the top of their qualifying round last month, which is a testament to the kind of people who live in Halifax and across Nova Scotia. There’s something to be said about a province that can put out 2 major winners in a cross-Canada competition in 2 years. The Aviva Insurance company does all their philanthropic giving through this contest–a million bucks a year.
Essentially, it’s a popularity contest that can only be won online. But the beauty of it, for Souls Harbour, at least, is the awareness for their cause of hunger, homelessness, and poverty. And, everyone, regardless of financial situation, can make a big difference in only seconds a day. Those representing schools or large organizations have a leg up, because if you can get an entire school voting for you every day, you’re golden. And if you have a facebook following of 58,000, like one of their competitors, your marketing practically does itself.
In fact, Souls Harbour is up against 4 schools, and using every possible way they can think of to stay at the top of the polls, including running contests for prizes donated by local businesses, and posting ads on Kijiji. But competing with people who have built in votes, like schools, is challenging, since most of the lunch guests at Souls Harbour don’t even have an email account.
“When you work with people facing homeless, there are certain challenges, but you can’t make assumptions about them as a whole. Some of them are well-educated. Some of them are moms and dads. Many are gifted with hidden talents in music or art. We’re no longer just helping the typical stereotype of a homeless man down on his luck. The personal situations we see day to day are complex and heart-breaking,” says Michelle Porter, Executive Director.
Voting in the Aviva contest is easy. The first time you vote, you’ll need to register, but after that, it literally takes seconds a day. Souls Harbour is hoping to win a major kitchen renovation. $100,000 will get them an enlarged, commercialized space to output their 25,000 meals a year.
“Right now, we’re working in a kitchen that’s quaint, and clean, but no bigger than your kitchen at home might be,” says Chef Les, a red seal chef who left the world of commercial kitchens to serve at Souls Harbour RESCUE Mission. That’s up to 100 hot, nutritious meals a day from a kitchen in desperate need of an upgrade.
“We’re beyond the need for a makeover,” says Porter, “we’re at the full-on facelift stage.”
To participate in voting for Souls Harbour RESCUE Mission’s dream kitchen, visit www.KitchenForSouls.com. You can vote once a day, until December 10th.
