Souls Harbour Rescue Mission has expanded its Bridgewater location with the opening of a new affordable housing space for women and a fully commercialized kitchen that will boost its capacity to serve meals and offer support to those in need.
The organization officially opened the new three-bedroom home and kitchen on Tuesday. The house, located next door to their drop-in centre, offers shared living space for women and children who need safe, stable housing.
“Three beds might not seem like a big deal,” said Souls Harbour Chief Program Officer Marni Yuke, “but to someone that’s laying in that bed—that’s life changing.”
A bedroom in the new Souls Harbour Rescue Mission house for women in Bridgewater. Photo: Evan Taylor.
Yuke explained that demand for their services continues to grow across Nova Scotia, especially in Bridgewater. Souls Harbour currently operates in 14 locations across the province and serves between 50 and 200 people a day, depending on the site.
Bridgewater’s site has been averaging about 100 meals per day—roughly 2,000 each month—and until now, those meals were being prepared in a regular household kitchen.
“Imagine feeding 100 people a day out of your own personal kitchen. Not easy,” said Yuke. “But thanks to donors in the Bridgewater area and across the province, we now have an industrial-sized kitchen.”
The kitchen has been named in honour of Foster McKenzie, a longtime board member and retired architect who helped design the space before retiring.
Souls Harbour CEO and co-founder Michelle Porter said the upgrades go beyond bricks and mortar.
“With the commercial kitchen we can serve more people safely and efficiently,” Porter said. “But the kitchen is cooking up more than food—it’s cooking up welcome, hope, and dignity. And second chances.”
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- Marni Yuke shows off the new kitchen at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission’s Bridgewater site. Photo: Evan Taylor.
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- Marni Yuke shows off the expanded Freestore at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Bridgewater. Photo: Evan Taylor.
The house next door also includes a full-sized “freemart” for clothing, hygiene, and household item giveaways—replacing a cramped porch space that used to serve that role.
Souls Harbour’s freestore, which allows people in need to select items like clothes, toiletries, and bedding, also moved to a seprate section of the new house. It previously was much smaller, operating out of the drop-in centre’s porch.
Porter described the new facility as an important milestone for the organization’s Bridgewater site, which was their first satellite location after Halifax. Souls Harbour has grown from just five staff members to over 150 since launching in Nova Scotia in 2010.
“The expansion really does mean more than buildings,” she said. “It’s providing hope. It’s changing lives.”
Both Porter and Yuke emphasized the role of community in making the project possible—through financial support, in-kind donations, and hands-on help like painting, plumbing, and furnishing the home.
“We’re not just serving meals here,” Porter said. “We’re building a community.”
