The Ellice Café & Theatre opened in February of 2005 as a non-profit
community development initiative of New Life Ministries.
The goal is reasonable prices, quality meals and friendly staff - most of
which live in the West End. The restaurant serves a broad spectrum of people. It has become a great place for "white collar", "blue collar", and
"no collar" people to have an affordable, quality meal.
Customers seat themselves, order and pay for their meal at the register,
then have the meal delivered to their table. The goal was to speed up
service.
Prices are in increments of 25 cents and the PST and GST are both included
in the menu prices. "What you see is what you pay."
Menu sales from the Ellice Café help us subsidize a low-income food service
for some residents of the New Life Ministries transitional housing and emergency shelter. The café is also a natural venue for volunteering and job
training.
Since 1983, New Life Ministries has worked to support and encourage positive
changes in the West End. The ministry is led by well-known community
activist and Winnipeg Sun columnist, Rev. Harry Lehotsky.
It's hard to comprehend the loneliness felt by people who are working hard
to change their lives. Change in life often requires many changes in relationships and much time alone. The café serves some of that need. The
café has no liquor license - at the request of community residents in recovery from addictions that wanted a "dry" place to relax and eat.
The theatre space was renovated to create an accessible venue for affordable
and positive leisure and entertainment. Since concessions are provided by
the attached café, admission for the shows should be well within reach of
local residents. Check the above link for information on using the theatre
space.
Shows presently include movies (offered free to residents), dramas and
concerts. We enjoy the talents of developing artists. With no government
grants to renovate or operate the café and theatre, New Life Ministries
depends solely on private donations for this unique initiative.
The Ellice Cafe & Theatre is a non-profit community economic development
initiative of New Life Ministries. Our goals include:
ˇ Self-sustaining, high quality cafe & theatre to assist New Life Ministries in providing community services without operating funds from government.
ˇ Skill development through volunteering, job training and employment.
ˇ Subsidized low-income food service primarily for residents of our transitional housing and, as we able, other working hard to better their own lives.
ˇ Shining example of the capacity and resilience of our historic West End community.
Any request for information or charitable contributions can be addressed to:
New Life Ministries
514 Maryland,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3G 1M5
