Four times a year we offer special meals for our street friends- a Summer BBQ, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Since many service organizations and churches also provide meals for these occasions, we host ours a couple of weeks after the date so our friends experiencing homelessness and poverty can take advantage of an additional celebratory meal.
This coming Tuesday, May 3rd will be our annual Easter Meal at Knox Presbyterian Church on Lisgar Street. We are expecting from 150 to 200 guests in the two-hour window when the meal is being provided (take out).
These are particular occasions when our volunteers come together to make wonderful things happen. There is, of course, the dinner, but also a coloured page from donors offering warm messages, and chocolate – what would Easter be without chocolate! We hear about joy in reconnecting with some of our long-time friends and having the chance to share a few warm moments and great conversation. New relationships form, too. Mostly we hear from our volunteers that they are the ones blessed by the day, more so even than those they came to serve.
Easter in May is not quite when we are used to putting on our Easter bonnets, but for our volunteers and those we serve, the flowers seem brighter, the sun’s rays seem warmer and hope abounds.
God Bless and HAPPY EASTER MEAL!
~Brian – Volunteer Coordinator
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