Downtown Mission on the move

The Downtown Mission of Windsor plans to move to the Windsor Public Library building to better serve guests comfortably.

Its current building,  located on Victoria Avenue, can no longer handle the number of guests who come in daily.

Rushkini Ponniah-Goulin, director of development for the Downtown Mission, said the current building was purchased about 20 years ago. 

“It was supposed to be a temporary location for about 10 years, to grow from the previous location which is now the Jade restaurant,” said Ponniah-Goulin.

The building was supposed to handle about 100 people a day, but has far surpassed that for the past two years, according to Ponniah-Goulin. 

The Mission plans to move its services to 850 Ouellette Ave., the current Windsor Public Library Central Branch, where they can expand their accommodations. They will be able to start the move when the library building is free in February 2020. 

“We have about eight months to a year to renovate the main floor of the library to accommodate all of our programs,” said Ponniah-Goulin. 

The decision to move not only takes into account  the Mission’s ability to provide services, but also the surrounding area. Constant support from the community has helped fund this move to a less residential area.

“We don’t have a lot of government funding right now,” said Ponniah-Goulin.

“We have certain programs that have government grants for the programs specifically. We are hoping to get a little bit more government donations and support to continue growing.” 

Ponniah-Goulin added the new building will be surrounded by a secure fence, away from residents, for the security and comfort of guests. She said that the move will not affect current services and everything will continue as usual.