Workers at Lighthouse Mission found a foot of water in their basement last week, the result of a crushed pipe. Now they are turning to the community for help and the community is responding.

Joel Cormie, operations manager at Lighthouse Mission, gestured towards his knee as he explained how high the water was. "The basement was above eight inches to just over a foot deep in water," he said.

The drain that runs underneath their building and underneath Main Street was crushed underneath the boulevard and caused water to back up into Lighthouse Mission. The City of Winnipeg has turned the water off and the Mission won't be able to open until they have their water back on.

"Without water, you can't clean, you can't cook, you can't offer washroom facilities," Cormie said. "We're trying to get the basement restored . . . so that we can begin to care again for the needs of the people that we serve."

The water caused the loss of their sound equipment, washer, dryer and toilet. They also lost their boiler, which may need to be fully replaced before they can reopen.

Lighthouse Mission also lost ten freezers and three fridges. Fortunately, they were able to donate the food items inside them before they went bad. That includes 95 turkeys, 70 packages of boneless chicken breast, 25 packages of ground beef, 125 pounds of sausage and 12 pork loins. 

"The hard reality is that it's going to affect the people we serve here each day," Cormie said. "We're looking forward to when we can reopen."

The church community has already started to work together to help Lighthouse Mission during this crisis. Cormie explained that every Friday a church brings a worship band and pastor down to run a service. Some of those churches have committed to coming down and performing a church service out on the street. Others are getting money to donate for the repairs Lighthouse needs to make.

"It's been exciting to see those people who have been long time supporters of us are banding together in order to help us in this moment of crisis," Cormie said.

To donate, you can go to www.lighthousemission.ca or call 204-943-9669. They are currently estimating $35,000 and $50,000 to repair the damages and restock the food they had to get rid of.