AROUND THE TERRITORY
Barrie Bayside Mission Expands
Booth University College Enrolment Up 10.5 Percent
THE SALVATION ARMY’S Bayside Mission in Barrie, Ont., celebrated the grand opening of its new Day Program Centre in September. Built to better meet the needs of a growing community, the centre will offer programs, resources and refuge to those in need to complement the existing social and community services provided by the Bayside Mission. The centre will be home to new and enhanced foundational programming and services to help break the cycle of poverty. It features a computer lab for job searches and resumé writing, a teaching kitchen, laundry facilities, public washroom/ showers and a meeting space for seminars on anger management, financial management and more. “The Bayside Mission has been providing compassionate, hands-on service to the people of Barrie for the past 38 years,” says Jeffrey Robertson, area director for public relations and development, Ontario Central-East Division. “We are proud to open the doors of our Day Program Centre and are excited for the many ways this new space will allow us to better serve the community and be involved with its members.”
WHILE MANY UNIVERSITIES entered the new academic year faced with stagnant enrolment, Winnipeg’s Booth University College (BUC) recorded a 10.5 percent increase in the number of students on campus, the eighth consecutive year an increase has been achieved. “New program offerings, expansion of online learning and distance education opportunities, and a dedicated and hardworking faculty and staff have all contributed to this increase,” says Dr. Donald Burke, BUC president. Compared to September 2013 figures, this year BUC recorded: • a 10.5 percent increase in the total number of students on campus • an 8.6 percent increase in the number of credit hours sold to students on campus • a 31.9 percent increase in the distance education and continuing studies credit hours sold “I am proud of the work we have done in recent years to bring BUC to where it is today, but now it is time to look beyond the present to envision and shape the future of Booth as a growing Christian university of choice,” says Burke. “With the recent release of our new strategic plan, I am confident the future holds the promise of greater things to come.” The strategic plan, Vision 2020: The Road to Booth University, can be downloaded from BUC’s website at BoothUC.ca/2020.
Christmas Ad Campaign Focuses on Poverty From left, Ted Handy, architect; Mjr Sandra Foster, executive director, Bayside Mission; Lt-Col Sandra Rice, DC and DDWM, Ont. CE Div; and Jeff Lehman, mayor of Barrie, open the Day Program Centre
DID YOU KNOW?
… The Salvation Army in Calgary gave out more than 1,100 backpacks in September through its back-to-school backpack program? … more than 100 young people gathered at Scotian Glen Camp in Thorburn, N.S., in September for their annual Youth Together retreat weekend? … the London Property Management Association raised $15,000 for the Army’s Centre of Hope shelter in London, Ont., through a golf tournament held in September? … a Canada Post food drive in Estevan, Sask., collected 1,600 kg of food for the local Salvation Army food bank? … over the course of 2014, members of Toronto’s Etobicoke Temple raised $103,000 for the territory’s Partners in Mission campaign? The temple’s contributions to the campaign have quadrupled over the past four years 6 • December 2014 • Salvationist
“WE KEEP MAKING better things. Why can’t we make things better?” This is the challenge spoken at the conclusion of one of The Salvation Army’s two new TV commercials. The words come as the video footage pans out of an electronics store and zooms slowly through the window of a parked car, inside of which a mother and daughter prepare to go to sleep. The latest advances in technology are contrasted with the fact that vulnerable people still struggle to find a safe place to sleep. “Earlier this year, The Salvation Army launched a new advertising campaign—It’s Time to End Poverty in Canada—that highlights the injustice people living in poverty face,” says John McAlister, national director of marketing and communications. “We’re calling on Canadians to take this situation seriously. We’re too developed, too wealthy and too kind-hearted a country to allow poverty to affect any one of us.” Throughout the Christmas season, the campaign will feature two TV commercials, three radio spots, three transit shelter ads and a variety of online and digital resources. A collection of these assets can be viewed at www.salvationarmy.ca/advertising. “With one in 11 Canadians living in poverty, it’s an issue that affects every community,” says McAlister. “We hope the campaign will promote wider awareness of our mission and encourage greater support from our public donors.”