Intentional community meets mental health care in Chiara House
WINNIPEG, MB—Renovations in a downtown apartment meant to be an intentional Christian community can move forward now that the partners involved in the project have secured the proper building permits.
After 18 weeks of being in limbo while their applications were processed by the City of Winnipeg, Chiara House and the partners that are creating it—including the Little Flowers Community, Mennonite Church Manitoba and other organizations—received the permits they needed at the beginning of December.
According to the building's website, the small apartment building, located at 490 Maryland Street, will eventually provide supportive, affordable Christian community living. People will share life and mission together in the context of the West End neighbourhood where the building is located.
Jamie Arpin-Ricci, the pastor of Little Flowers, says there will be on emphasis on providing dignified housing for people struggling with mental health issues.
It was the suicide of a community member with an undiagnosed mental illness, who had recently started attending Little Flowers, that got the church thinking about starting Chiara House.
"It inspired us to say, 'If we could provide a space in which people could see the signs sooner and connect people with resources sooner, it would be a real blessing,'" Arpin-Ricci says.
He adds that this is an important topic for Little Flowers because some of the members of the church struggle with mental illness.
"These are our friends—these are people we worship with, that we share life with—where we don't see the system helping them, we need to do something," he says. "[Chiara House] was just one of the ways we've seen that start to happen."
The house was purchased in 2009 by a group of Christian businesspeople who formed a non-profit corporation and who own the building on behalf of Little Flowers.
Accommodating three to five people per floor, the building will allow residents to have personal space shared in a community context.
The building has three floors and a full basement. Each of the floors will have fully-furnished apartments with small kitchenettes. There will also be a shared community space on each floor where residents can prepare and share meals together.
The basement will feature a small suite for hospitality and emergency, in case a friend of a community member needs somewhere to stay for a few nights or is looking for somewhere to have a shower and do some laundry. There will also be a small office and meeting space.
Norm Voth, director of evangelism and service ministries for Mennonite Church Manitoba, says he is amazed at how many people have partnered together to make Chiara House a reality.
Eden Health Care Services has offered to provide training and resources for people living in the apartment. At least eight youth groups have helped gut the apartment, fifteen different churches have donated money and volunteer hours, people from various trades will donate their time to help renovate the building and many people are praying for the project.
"People are attracted to [this vision] and are saying, 'We want to have a part of that. We want to play a part in making Chiara House a reality,'" Voth says. "There's just a growing sense of excitement of what this can become."
Arpin-Ricci adds that while Chiara House still needs people to support it financially, as well as tradespeople who can help renovate it, he's also looking for more Christians to join the community.
"We do still need Christians who would be willing … to relocate their lives to our neighbourhood and perhaps even in the building to stand alongside our friends, to share life with us and with those facing the challenges of mental illness," he says.
"That's not a call for everyone, it's a challenging call, but it's also one of those missionary calls that someone in Winnipeg could respond to without having to give up their job necessarily, without taking it on as a full-time role but simply choose to share life.
"I think that's probably one of the most underrated but significantly important missionary calls, is people willing just to share life with those on the margins."
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