Article content

Your eyes take a few seconds to adjust to the dim lighting in St. Stephen’s Church in lower Westmount.

Men and women are stretched out on the carved wooden pews, fast asleep. Others are helping themselves to a hot lunch of stew, rice and vegetables, or gazing at computers set up along the side wall.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Open Door moves on as St. Stephen's Church closes Back to video

Nero, a 6-year-old pit bull-pug mix, snoozes on a pew as his owner, Greg Jones, manages the front desk.

“This was the only shelter that did not have a policy on dogs,” says Jones, 52, who spends most nights catching 40 winks at downtown coffee shops to avoid having to leave Nero tied up outside.

Welcome to the Open Door.

For 30 years, the day centre in the red brick Anglican church at the corner of Dorchester Blvd. and Atwater Ave. has provided a haven for the city’s unwanted.

That will change on Monday, when it moves to a new location, in the basement of Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette Catholic Church on Parc Ave.