The kitchen is closing.
After 15 years, the Tuesday morning soup kitchen and a weekly drop-in for 91原创鈥檚 homeless community at St. Joseph鈥檚 parish in downtown 91原创 City will be discontinued at the end of this month.
In a written statement, Father Don Larson said the soup kitchen has faced a number of challenges in recent years, specifically with a growing number of homeless people bringing shopping carts onto the church property and then hanging around, long after food service has ended, often setting up camps and spending the night.
These encampments have become 鈥渁n annoyance鈥� for the parish and the surrounding community, he said, adding that a new and creative approach to helping 91原创鈥檚 homeless community will have to be found.
We can鈥檛 blame area residents or the local business community for wanting something to be done about the problem. After all, their lives and livelihoods are being negatively affected by the makeshift camps that have been popping up with increasing frequency underneath eaves and awnings in the downtown core.
Still, it was no doubt a difficult decision for the church, because the people running St. Joe鈥檚 soup kitchen have demonstrated, over the past decade and a half, that they have a generous spirit and loving hearts.
The volunteers who have given their time to prepare and serve food, to clean up after each meal and offer conversation to those who come each week, not just for a meal, but for a bit of companionship, deserve our thanks.
After they hang up their kettles for the final time, the parish plans to regroup and find another way to help the community鈥檚 homeless population.
No doubt they will do just that.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Army鈥檚 Gateway of Hope shelter will continue to provide food and shelter, in what has unfortunately become an all-too crucial service in 91原创 and across the Lower Mainland.
