A Saskatchewan man who turned a school bus into a warmup shelter says his nonprofit desperately needs donations.
Ralph Nicotine was inspired to start the warm-up bus a few years ago, following a freezing death outside City Centre Church in Saskatoon.
Each year, when temperatures drop, Nicotine parks his bus outside that same church at night, welcoming the city’s most vulnerable to come in and warmup.
“There’s a warmup shelter here and there, but no capacity, there’s too many people on the street, so I wanted to be a helping hand to our community,” he said in an interview with CTV News.
At first, he leased a bus from a friend, but last year he purchased his own so he could customize the interior.
The bus offers hot soup, coffee, and winter gear such as jackets and boots.