Photo (L to R):  Ko Dev Roy; Nadine Kampen, B.A.; Kevin Lasiuk, B.Comm, Sarah Elgren, Ashley Zerr, and Bryce Hunter P.Eng., ENV SP

Stantec received ACEC-SK’s 2018  Community Initiative Award for their Stantec + Soul’s Harbour Rescue Mission . The award acknowledges the donations of time and/or services of a member firm to the benefit of Saskatchewan communities or groups.

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is a major part of what makes Regina, Saskatchewan a great place to live. They feed, provide shelter, and support the people that need it the most in our city. Souls Harbour is not just a soup kitchen. They have five facilities in total; the soup kitchen that serves 200 supper meals a day, Shayil Home a Residency-based addiction program for women and their children, Harbour House which includes affordable housing, Little Souls Daycare, and Zeike’s Place Youth Centre.  The Mission covers a lot of bases.

For Stantec, it’s important to take care of everyone in our community. There are over 35,000 Canadians homeless on any given night, 50,000 provisionally accommodated, and 1 in 5 households experience extreme housing affordability problems.

This is prevalent in our community and formed the foundation of the partnership. Stantec was  honored to work with Souls Harbour and help make the community a great place for everyone to live. "Our families live, work, and play here, and we are in the business of creating communities through our designs. Our partnership was complementary to both our community goals, which is what made it so successful and impactful," said a company spokesperson.

Stantec partnered with Souls Harbour Rescue Mission for three years (June 2015 – June 2018). For each of those three years, Stantec donated $7,500, volunteered 200 hours, and provided $7,500 of In-kind services which included providing up to date building drawings for Shayil Home, and addressing HVAC issues at Harbor House. Stantec’s total donation was $22,500, $22,500 of in-kind services, and over 600 volunteer hours. 

Stantec’s Regina office has 115 staff. Many of the staff have participated on some level by volunteering, donating money, and/or providing in-kind serves. This initiative was driven corporately, but supported by staff though their involvement in the various initiatives.

Over the last three years the Stantec team helped feed the homeless, upgrade the facilities for those in need, raise funds for their new facility, and utilized the reach on social media to provide increased awareness for Souls Harbour. After the Homeless Awareness week, the Soul’s website activity increasedby 30%. 

One of Souls Harbour’s major events is their Homeless Awareness Week, from August 24 to 28, 2015. Their goal was to raise 2,500 nights of shelter, equal to $60,000. So the Twitter campaign was born. Stantec would donate $3 for every tweet or retweet of #Stantec4TheHomeless, up to $7,500. Through this campaign, they were able to create awareness for Homelessness and Souls Harbour. Following the campaign Souls Harbour gained 50+ new Twitter and Facebook followers. By creating more awareness, it equaled more dollars raised for the community. Brad Wall the Saskatchewan Premier received 1,000+ retweets, raising 125 nights of shelter.

The list of projects, fund raised, events sponsored, manual labour and professional services donated by the Stantec volunteers was beneficial and appreciated by both parties in the partnership.