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Salvation Army debunks rumours of new downtown Maple Ridge shelter

The Dewdney Trunk Road location will be the new temporary administrative office
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Fundraising coordinator Amelia Norrie (right), and other Salvation Army administrative staff, will be working out of the new Dewdney Trunk Road location starting Jan. 1. (The News)

The Salvation Army is having to clear up some rumours and confusion surrounding their upcoming move from one Maple Ridge facility to another.

Passerbys may have noticed some Salvation Army logos in the windows of 23315 Dewdney Trunk Rd. over the past few days, which has sparked some discussion on social media.

In various Facebook groups, Maple Ridge residents are expressing their concerns that the Salvation Army is opening up a new homeless shelter or soup kitchen right on Dewdney Trunk Road.

Apparently, the rumours and online discourse became so bad that Amelia Norrie, fundraising coordinator for the Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries, decided to make a clarification post on multiple local Facebook groups.

”I’d like to shed some light on the new Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries office opening on Dewdney Trunk Road. I understand that many have concerns about this being a new shelter or soup kitchen. I can confirm it most definitely is not,” Norrie said in a post.

She then went on to explain that it will be an administrative space that will also be used to run the community and family services.

“The new office will provide over 150 school bag lunches a day for kids in 15 schools across Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows,” Norrie said in her post.

“It will provide baby and toddler necessities for over 300 families a year. It will provide 400 emergency food hampers for families experiencing food insecurity on a temporary basis. It will organize sending over 50 vulnerable, local kids to summer camp. And, it will provide over 350 fully packed back-to-school backpacks for kids in our communities.”

However, the current shelter and community meal programs the organization offers will continue to be run out of the 22188 Lougheed Hwy. location in Maple Ridge.

This confusion is coming at a time when the Salvation Army has just announced the construction of a new shelter that is scheduled to be completed by 2027 in a yet-to-be-determined location in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows.

READ MORE: Salvation Army announces new shelter serving Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows

“We’ve been given the green light by our divisional headquarters to start having conversations about building a new facility,” said Norrie.

Housing the Salvation Army administrative team at the Dewdney Trunk Road location will be a temporary move, according to Norrie, who explained that it’s just a short-term solution for the overcrowding at the current administrative office at 11948 227 Street.

“When the new building is built, we’ll all be able to be back together. There’s no point in having to pay for two leases if we can build a place that can fit all of us,” explained Norrie.

Norrie and other members of the Salvation Army administrative team are expecting to move into the new location as soon as next week, with the Dewdney Trunk Road location being fully operational by Jan. 1.

Screenshot of a Facebook conversation talking about the new Salvation Army shelter being constructed in either Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows. (Protecting Maple Ridge 2022 Facebook/Special to The News)

Screenshot of a Facebook conversation talking about the new Salvation Army shelter being constructed in either Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows. (Protecting Maple Ridge 2022 Facebook/Special to The News)
Screenshot of a Facebook conversation talking about the new Salvation Army shelter being constructed in either Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows. (Protecting Maple Ridge 2022 Facebook/Special to The News)

RELATED: Ridge Meadows Salvation Army not allowed in front of BC Liquor stores this Christmas


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Brandon Tucker

About the Author: Brandon Tucker

I have been a journalist since 2013, with much of my career spent covering sports and entertainment stories in Alberta.
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