Going from policing to non-profit is natural, says new head of the Gathering Place
CBC
Transitioning from decades of policing to leading a non-profit isn't unprecedented at the Gathering Place, and Colin McNeil says his background will help connect him with communities and face the challenges ahead as the number of people coming through the door continues to grow.
"My policing background, my work and my [volunteering] in the community — it's a natural connection," McNeil told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show earlier this week.
“The transition from policing into this non-profit sector and this community has been refreshing for me, and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”
McNeil has only been in the role for around a week, but enters at a time the shelter and service delivery hub has never been busier.
The St. John's-based organization offers an expansive range of services, including hot food, laundry, tech literacy, housing and much more.
"We have about 3,200 registered guests right now, which is an all-time high. We’re serving as many as 600 meals a day. Back in the fall, in October I believe, we served over 18,000 meals," McNeil said.
"It’s a continuous increase. So we’ve had to react to be able to provide those services to our guests, to meet those service demands. And that’s what I intend on doing and what I intend on driving forward.”
McNeil is stepping into the role after 31 years in law enforcement, most recently as the deputy chief of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.
He takes over from another former police officer, Paul Davis who is also a former premier.
Also a community volunteer and former board member of Thrive, which works with at-risk youth, McNeil said he's made a career out of forming strong community bonds — bonds he hopes can make life better for those who need services like food, housing and more.
“The issue is not going anywhere. Look around in our community, and it’s going on right across the country. No one has the solutions, and we need to all come together as a community to try to understand what’s happening, so we can try to put solutions in place," he said.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says health care won’t be exempt from her efforts to cut spending — even though her health minister says big spending increases will be unavoidable in coming years.
Pierre Ny St-Amand, the man who drove a bus into a Laval daycare in 2023, killing two young children and injuring six others, has been declared a high-risk accused.
A former CTV and CBC reporter hired to serve as Manitoba’s trade envoy to the United States is taking home more than $480,000 Cdn a year in consulting fees, according to his contract with the province.
The teen who lit her classmate on fire at a Saskatoon high school returns to court on Monday to learn the judge's decision on her sentence.
On a July morning in 2024, Dwayne Cardinal was packing up his tent outside the Bissell Centre when a police cruiser pulled up and two officers got out.
The City of Revelstoke and the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District have passed motions formalizing their intention to push the provincial government to protect an old-growth forest.
The province will once again decide who will hold Niagara’s top municipal post after the sudden resignation last week of Bob Gale, but exactly when the next regional chair will be announced isn’t clear just yet.
A wind warning is in place for Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton on Monday with gusts as high as 90 km/h possible, according to Environment Canada.
Just a year after the Alberta government made a big splash unveiling its new border security team to the public with an announced $29-million investment, its latest budget shows the province only spent a third of the total it earmarked for the work over its first year.
Following several fatal collisions in northern Ontario this winter, a Sudbury, Ont., resident has created a website to track incidents across the region.
A Cambridge endometriosis advocate’s petition calling for change in how the disease is treated and recognized in Canada has received sponsorship by a member of Parliament.
While it may be expected to see crowded bars on a Friday or Saturday night, one Charlottetown pub is drawing in customers at a different time of day.
AI-generated Indigenous language dictionaries, elders’ teachings and history circulating online could be harming culture and language revitalization efforts, say experts.