'A safe place': New homeless shelter in Yorkton prepares to open its doors to the community

Yorkton, Sask. -

After months upon months of preparations, Yorkton’s new homeless shelter is ready to open on Thursday.

Bruno’s Place and its organizers have worked tirelessly leading up to the opening, and they’re ready to help out Yorkton’s unique vulnerable community.

“This is going to bring a safe place for people to stay, that don't have a home of their own,” said Angela Chernoff, project coordinator.

“This can be a safe place that can provide them with shelter and food.”

Chernoff continued to explain the uniqueness of the vulnerable community in Yorkton. She said it’s a lot of couch surfing, a lot of transient individuals without a place to stay, and a lot of situational or temporary shelter those in the community are looking for.

Specifically, as well, this shelter will fill a current gap in the community’s vulnerable sector. There hasn’t been a shelter men in Yorkton can go until now.

Chernoff added that almost daily, people are messaging the group’s social media pages, looking for a warm place to lay their head for the night, or for a warm meal.

Thursday’s opening, she said, is a big deal for this community.

“The reception to this project has been overwhelmingly positive and people have been incredibly generous and encouraging to us, that has really helped us along,” said Chernoff.

WHERE THE NAME CAME FROM

Bruno’s Place gets its name from a well-known member of Yorkton and Kamsack’s vulnerable community, dating back to the 70s to the 90s.

Bruno walked the streets throughout that time, with some long-term residents describing him as a welcoming soul, yet an enigmatic individual.

Current Yorkton Mayor Mitch Hippsley has been a professional photographer for over 40 years, basing his business in the community. In February 1992, Hippsley snapped a photo of Bruno, which won various awards in the years following.

He said Bruno was a well-educated man from Montreal, and it took some convincing for Hippsley to even get Bruno to sit down and photograph him.

Hippsley couldn’t sleep late one night in late 1991, so he went to the local car wash. There, he heard a rustle in a nearby garbage can.

“And out popped Bruno,” said Hippsley.

“He watched me for a while, then he got out of his barrel and came and talked to me.”

Hippsley said Bruno handed him a couple of the books he had written, and Hippsley asked if he could photograph him.

“He said he would think about it,’” said Hippsley.

Fast forward one year, nearly to the day, when Hippsley was in his business in the back room after all his clients cancelled due to the snow and the cold.

“All of a sudden, I smelt something. And I knew it was Bruno,” said Hippsley.

“Don’t know why, but I knew it was Bruno … I came around from the back end, I saw this silhouette, standing right at the front door, inside.

“He said, ‘I’m here for my portrait session today.’ And I welcomed him, of course, and he told me he had been studying me … he said, ‘I’ve been looking at your work, and I want you to photograph me the way I am, not the way you want me to look,’” explained Hippsley.

Bruno didn’t end up leaving, staying for a four hour session — and about “a few hundred exposures,” Hippsley said.

30 years later, the photo still holds up. A print sits in Hippsley’s office, to this day.

The print has been recreated by an Alberta artist as a fundraiser for the shelter, selling them for $25.

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The whole interaction 30 years ago, Hippsley said, is vivid in his memory all these years later.

“I just knew he was a very private man … he was planning to head back to his city, but he felt the need to be here and help out the real needy people here in Yorkton. You could tell that his purpose was to stay here and help,” he said.

Bruno’s presence will continue to help those in need, all these years later, in the city he picked to stay.

Bruno’s Place officially opens Thursday at 7 p.m.