Heart For The City (HFC) is a new local organization reaching out to homeless people in Montreal. The center is located on Ste. Catherine St between Lambert Closse and Chomedy, an area heavily populated by homeless people. The program’s creator, Dave Mills, is a pastor at the neighbouring Evangel Church and has been working on HFC for the past 4 years. The doors officially opened in February 2005 and a steady stream of visitors has been coming in ever since.
When the Evangel Church bought the building on Ste. Catherine for their offices, the question was raised as to what to do with the local bar downstairs once its lease was up. A dark and dingy drinking spot, the Mont-Bar seemed out of place in the new complex the church was setting up. Mills took a look around and decided what the area needed most was a resource to help the homeless people who had frequented the old bar and various other run down venues nearby.
After months of renovation the space was in good shape for Heart For The City to move in and start operating. What had been a dismal, dirty bar became a bright and welcoming place that could easily be mistaken for one of the city’s trendy caf