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Sault’s compassion hub preparing to close

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A group in Sault Ste. Marie that works with homeless people and those struggling with addiction and food insecurity will be closing its doors at the end of the month.

The Compassion Hub opened on Gore Street in January. There were plans in the summer to relocate to a larger space, but those have since been abandoned. At this time, the group says there’s nowhere for them to go.

“We were supposed to move across the street for Aug. 1,” said Donna De Simon, one of the founders of Addictions and Mental Health Advocates, the group that operates the Compassion Hub.

“But when squatters went into the building, they did some major damage there. So we were unable to rent the premises.”

The building in question is now boarded up with no word on what will happen to it. De Simon’s daughter, Angie, who runs the Hub with her mother, said there is also uncertainty about what will happen to the Compassion Hub’s clients.

“I’m concerned about people that come in that don’t have the food security that eat with us every day,” she said.

“We give them clothes and everything else they need -- and it’s getting cold out.”

The Hub is run completely by volunteers and is dependent on donations. While their situation looks bleak, Donna De Simon said this is not the end.

“This becomes a part of you,” she said.

“It becomes a part of your heart and it’s going to be really difficult for us. But we refuse to lie down. We will be back. Somehow, some way, we’ll be back.”

In the meantime, De Simon said the group would offer support to their clients however they can until a new space is found. 

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