A Living Alternative

After many long months and frustrating paperwork, we got the call today that we are clear to open The Dusty Cover! On Tuesday, February 5th, The Dusty Cover will officially open it’s doors. While we won’t be having a Grand Opening for a while, we will be open next week to get the ball rolling. We are really excited. It has been a long process.

We are also excited by several existing and potential partnerships with the store. So many people have given so much (Watershed Community, Mike & Karla Penner, Dana & Larry Ames and many more) to make this happen. We are also in talks about potential partnership for childrens programs, church planting and several others. We will keep you posted.

Please keep us in your prayers. After many months of delays, we are getting really financially stretched. We are working to broaden our support base without much luck. We are looking for creative ways to tighten our belt and broaden our support. Let us know if you have any ideas.

Hope to see you soon!

Last week was a real kick in the gut with respect to The Dusty Cover. We received a call from the city’s health department. It seems the person I initially spoke to failed to give me all the details, so they were kindly getting back to me (nearly 6 month later). However, it turns out that under Winnipeg’s by-laws, for us to serve coffee (no other food items at all) requires that we meet the same facility requirements as any commercial kitchen. Not only would this cost us thousands of dollars in upgrades, but it would be zoning permits and another several months delay. Needless to say, that wasn’t an option we could afford.

Feeling somewhat defeated, I went back to the city with a series of alternatives. It seems we have come up with something of a compromise. We are able to provide free coffee that must be self-serve with only disposable items. Needless to say, this will severely impact our primary income, but the alternative was no better. People can make donations towards the drinks, which we hope will offset the cost. Obviously this project was never intended to be a money maker, so we are now looking at creative ways to further subsidize the project. Any ideas?

While we are all disappointed, we are also experiencing something akin to relief. The details surrounding the upgrades would have been overwhelming to us in a time where our ministry is already financially stretched. With my struggle against burn out, it might have been the straw that… well, you know. In the end, we are trust God’s wisdom in this, refusing to let it break our spirits and vision.

In fact, it is times like this that we all realize how much we love our community. (Pernell wrote a powerful post that could very well have been written here. Read it to get an idea of what we see live with). Our neighbourhood is deeply wounded, but the wound is so clearly visible only against the beauty of the people that live here. Further, it has drawn us together as a staff, as we experience the true cup of communion as we seek to be the Body against what seems impossible odds. God is good.

Keep us in prayer!

Missional