Some Changes...
For over a year now The Dusty Cover has grown into a small hub of relationship and activity in the West End of Winnipeg. When we opened the doors our goals were to create a hospitable and safe environment for people in our neighbourhood to connect with us and each other. The books & the coffee were secondary to our commitment to be present for our neighbours in a neutral context in order to build genuine relationships and trust. Our weekly kids program has developed into connections that serve families of all kinds. We wanted to tangibly love our community while taking our place alongside the people as part of the fabric of the West End. In all these things we have been successful. In fact, it has gone far beyond our expectations. It has been out of the core community built from the bookstore that our church plant, Little Flowers Community, was born.
Given all the changes, we have decided to make some changes. As of Saturday, August 15th, 2009 The Dusty Cover, as it is, will be closed for good. We cannot express how appreciative we are to all those who made this project possible. The time, energy, passion, books and money people invested into us have born good fruit that will continue to blessing our community for years to come. We do not see this as a failure, but the next step in an exciting journey for our ministry.
You may have noticed that I said that The Dusty Cover "as it is" will be closing. That’s right! This isn’t the end of The Dusty Cover. Little Flowers Community (which is a partnership between YWAM & Mennonite Church Manitoba) is in the process of working with a group of Christian business people who want to help us find a more permanent ministry centre in the neighbourhood. Their goal is to acquire an apartment building in the community with retail space on the main floor. In addition to providing quality housing to low-income people and a Christian presence in residence, they are committed to converting a section of the commercial space into a multi-purpose ministry centre for Little Flowers, community programing & outreach, etc. In other words, like a small community centre.
Since The Dusty Cover did it’s best to build community, our hope is to integrate the store on a smaller scale into this community space. Rather than a commercial store, our dream is to reopen as a community living-room. Check out this article from Christian Week about the changes. We will be using The Dusty Cover Facebook Group to post regular news, so join there.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us: info@dustycover.ca
Peace,
Jamie Arpin-Ricci & The Dusty Cover crew
A Community Initiative of YWAM Urban Ministires Winnipeg