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Description
Greetings to you from One88 Community Church; a church in a hard place,
working with vulnerable people in downtown Winnipeg. The purpose of this
letter is to invite you to help us at One88 work through a difficult time. Right from our origins, we have
relied on generous friends to help us make this work. We are coming to you at a time of financial crisis,
requesting your help.
Over the past year or so, the increase in interest rates, overall costs, & general hesitancy in giving has
created a very challenging environment for us as a downtown church community. This is particularly true
related to our drop-in. It seems that as costs increase, so does the need for this weekday service. The
combination of growing needs & costs has put us in a place of financial crisis.
The weekday drop-in costs $300/day to run (including our drop-in coordinator). That’s $6000/month
which translates into:
• 3000 cups of coffee
• 160 showers
• 200 loads of laundry
• about 1200 trips to the bathroom
• hundreds of razors, toothbrushes, pairs of socks/underwear, & other hygiene products
This is on top of being a:
• safe place to seek help with housing, work, IDs, social assistance, or receive mail
• trusted coordination point for social & mental health workers
• strong pastoral presence in downtown Winnipeg with a combined 20 years of downtown
ministry experience
Our leadership is doing the hard work of reducing costs. At the same time, we are humbly seeking to
increase donations. You are invited to financially support the work of the Drop-In. Whether its $50 for
a shower/laundry for a person, $150 to keep laundry going for the week, or $6000 to keep the drop-in
running for the month, we appreciate however you are able to help. Our hope is to increase the
number of monthly donors but, of course, appreciate any kind of donation that is made to us.
We ask this knowing that we are not alone in experiencing financial instability. So this ask is made in
humility & faith. Thank you for taking time consider this. I am happy to have further conversation with
you on these matters and even hear ideas you might have as you think into this with us. Much grace & peace to you.
One88 Community Church
info@one88.org
(204) 504-8118
188 Princess St, R3B 1L2
www.one88.org
community | friendship, networking
2023-07-22