WHAT IS

Capella Centre?

Capella Centre is the organization which operates the Columbus House of Hope family and women’s shelter in St. Paul. We’ve been effectively serving St. Paul and surrounding communities since March 8, 1984. Since then we’ve evolved significantly, providing more than just a women’s shelter, but instead offering a full breadth of services to help and create healthy relationships to build healthy communities.

We provide a secure, confidential place for women and children to escape domestic violence and other urgent situations. We provide programming in our communities for people of all ages and walks of life. We take measures to protect the safety, security and confidentiality of all those that receive our services. We are particularly aware of how the internet and social media are often a part of abusive relationships in the 21st century, so we are continually working on ways to help our clients stay safe online and offline.

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Our Founding Story

St. Paul & District Crisis Association was started in the early 1980s by a small, but determined group of women from St. Paul. With their hard work and dedication the association was incorporated on March 8, 1984 and services and supports for women and children experiencing domestic violence began. Their vision continued, the small group grew to include more women and men, community partnerships were developed, dreams were realized. Over the next seven years the association grew from a tiny office space in the community to a high security 20 bed emergency shelter built in 1991.

Knights of Columbus

Through a partnership with the Knights of Columbus, the women’s emergency shelter facility was built. The Knights of Columbus generously donated land and funds, and they continued their support of our organization throughout the years. To acknowledge and honour their support, the name of the emergency shelter operated under the Capella Centre, is Columbus House of Hope. The Knights of Columbus, a charitable organization that has been fundraising and performing acts of service for worthy causes since 1882.

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Our Mission & Vision

Empowering individuals and families to break the cycle of domestic violence, through safety, knowledge and respect.

Our vision is to create a healthy community through healthy relationships. The Town of St. Paul and its surrounding communities, like any town, is a complex web of relationships: husbands and wives, parents and children, bosses and workers, brothers and sisters. These relationships can be healthy or unhealthy, and the most extreme sign of an unhealthy relationship is violence. We don't just aim to pick up the pieces after a relationship has gone wrong, but to work within our community to create fulfilling relationships for everybody.

THE MEANING OF

Capella

Capella is a binary star in Auriga, the brightest star in the constellation which is usually depicted as a charioteer holding the reins of a chariot and carrying a goat and its two young on his left arm. In latin, Capella is defined as ‘she-goat’ and represents vitality, nurturing and ceaseless energy. Most people will associate the word ‘capella’ with a cappella music- today, music that is purely vocal, though the term means ‘in the manner of the chapel’.

This symbolism not only speaks to the history of the organization which is intrinsically linked with Knights of Columbus, but it also represents who we are, who we serve and what we do.