Benedict Labre House

Benedict Labre House was founded in October 1952 by, Tony Walsh, Dr. Magnus Seng - a doctor, who ran a free medical clinic in the inner city of Montreal.[1] Jim Shaw - a journalist and teacher at Loyola College.[1] Patricia Conners - a Montreal dramatist and former staff worker at Madonna House Apostolate in Combermere, Ontario[1] and Stephan Hagarty - a young college graduate [...] disenchanted with his new career in advertising.[1] In 1949, Tony Walsh became acquainted with Jim Shaw through his column discussing lay apostolates entitled "Among Ourselves" which had been published in Ensign, a Canadian Catholic Journal.[1] They met and discussed setting up a hospitality house within inner city Montreal.[1] The founding group met every Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of launching a house of hospitality, along with a socially conscious Catholic newspaper. From 1951 to 1952, Tony experienced difficulty trying to support himself while only being able to afford one meal per day, all the while dealing with recurring issues of pneumonia. With Tony's imminent return to the hospital, Magnus Seng called the group into action by placing the house of hospitality as a number one priority.[1] In October 1952, The Benedict Labre House project was launched.[1] The group founded the house project at 418 Lagauchetière, in St. Patrick's ward in downtown Montreal. The House was informally named '418' until its official christening as Benedict Labre House in 1953.[1] They opted not to officially align the project with the Catholic Worker movement due to the inability to determine their mission, mandate, and name. Nevertheless, the group had a strong vision of what the House was to be, thus demonstrating their proximity to discovering their mandate.[1] The centers philosophy revolves around the innate dignity each human being holds and preaches of respect for servants and those being served.[2]

Today, the Benedict Labre House serves up to 55 000 meals per year, and receives upwards of 500 volunteers. Volunteers help the mission function at a high level of operation.[4] The Houses clothing drive extends into basic daily necessities as well, including socks, underwear, shampoo, deodorant and razors to help maintain basic hygiene.[2] Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the House operates a laundry service where guests may drop their dirtied garments in the morning and pick them up, cleaned, in the afternoon.[4] During the above-mentioned days, the House offers a shower program in which guests may bathe during specific hours of the day.[4] The House provides a service known as Crisis Intervention and Active Listening, in which basic, in house support is offered to guests suffering from addiction problems, mental illnesses or simply have urgent issues in need of address. The House goes as far to offer extensive referrals to various community resources.[4] Weekly art classes are offered at the House including photography courses. The House offers bimonthly speaking conferences featuring guest speakers.[2] Subjects include prevention of hepatitis C, targeting those who use syringes for various intravenous drugs, and presentations on low income housing.[2] As of recently, mainly during the summer, barbecues have been held where large companies, General Motors for example, bring a variety of food to the Benedict Labre House grounds and employees as well as volunteers grill and serve the guests of the house.[2] The House also offers help putting together annual tax reports for those guests seeking aid.[2] The House publishes a by-annual newsletter called the "UNITY" to update the community with information about the centres current events and relevant information.[1] Benedict Labre House also offers an array of programs. Programs include a computer learning center teaching guests how to create a CV,[2] how to use the internet, email, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Picture Manager.[4] Yellow Bicycle Repair and Bicycle Shop, operated out of the backyard of the House, teaches hands on experience in how to repair bicycles and build new ones from old parts.[4] Green Healing, a garden grown in the backyard of the House offers guests an opportunity to help in the growing process of gardens.[4]