Street Meals

What is Street Meals?

"Street Meals" is an outreach ministry of Canadian Memorial United Church, established by two members of our congregation in 2000. Since that time, "Street Meals" has been supporting street-involved youth in downtown Vancouver with our hot meal and sandwich program. For 8 years, we worked with Ellen Shonsta, known on the streets as Street Mom, providing funds, food and volunteers for her Agape Ministry. Since Ellen retired, we have been working with Directions Youth Services Centre, operated by Family Services of Greater Vancouver, providing lunches for the Street Youth Job Action program. We also contribute goods and products, such as soap, socks, sleeping bags, and regular deliveries of milk... a whole range of items which have been identified as needed by the staff at Directions.

What is the CMUC Street Meals Scholarship Fund? In 2008 we established the scholarship fund to provide financial assistance to students who are training for a career in youth services. This education will prepare you to assist street-involved and at risk youth to move forward in life, with the appropriate support, resources and direction. We have established a scholarship fund to help students to further their academic goals, but also to encourage them to give back to their clients who so need professional help and support. Note that preference is given to students with a past history of street involvement or high risk and who are currently enrolled in a program that will lead to a degree or certification in youth services.

How can I help? StreetMeals meets monthly in the Great Hall of the Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace. Dates are in the calendar, or are available by calling the office 604-731-3101 or Joanne Hausch 604-224-7918.

You are welcome to join the kitchen crew as we make sandwiches, assemble lunch bags and sort donations for delivery to the Directions Youth Centre. Donations are always welcome. To donate to the food program, please designate your contribution to the StreetMeals Fund. To donate to the scholarship fund, please designate your donation to CMUC StreetMeals Scholarship Fund. Donations may be made by cash, cheque, pre-authorized debit from your bank account, credit card or PAR.

Launch of Groundbreaking New Website

What’s it like to be young and on the street? Why do so many youth end up there? Vancouver homeless youth have chosen to speak out and answer these questions, firsthand. Their stories, as filmed by the youth themselves and without interpreters, are now available on a ground-breaking new website, www.inourshoes.ca.

Ten homeless youth ─ Bynkie, Carter, Cookie, Ian, Yannick, Farrel, Violet, Samuel, Kstuddas and Davin ─ have filmed themselves walking the streets of Vancouver and telling their stories about daily survival, goals for the future and the steps that they are taking to get off the streets. Their stories are unfiltered; their faces are not shown in order to protect their identities.

The inourshoes.ca initiative was officially launched on September 28 to a small group of donors and supporters of the Directions Youth Services Centre and Family Services of Greater Vancouver, including Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. The launch event included homeless youth who lead a one-mile walk of downtown Vancouver, which culminated at the 700 block of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. There, the Mayor officially unveiled the campaign in front of a giant projection of images depicting life circumstances of homeless youth.

In Our Shoes is a great opportunity to listen and learn from our city’s homeless youth,” said Mayor Robertson. “We have so many young people who live on our streets and their voices are rarely heard. In Our Shoes gives us a better understanding of the daily life of these youth, which is critical to providing them with the help and services they need to turn their lives around.”

A corresponding poster campaign in downtown Vancouver will help to promote inourshoes.ca and act as a reminder to Vancouverites why many young Canadians end up homeless.
The website and campaign are a joint effort of Vancouver’s homeless youth, Directions Youth Services and Rethink Communications.

Click here for more information on Directions.  

In the news:

Awareness of youth homelessness in Vancouver was increased with several high profile events at Directions and a Thanksgiving dinner on the street organized by Melissa Lim and her team at Christ the Redeemer in West Vancouver. 

The Fall newsletter from Family Services features StreetMeals scholarship recipient Ange Myers, and Renate Aebi, the Director of Youth & Employment Services receiving an award from Mayor Robertson for Street Youth Job Action.  Of course, SYJA workers are the first in line for our StreetMeals lunches.  The youth receive 2 sandwiches, a juice box, a granola bar and a piece of fruit to help them through their work day doing graffiti cleanup, needle sweeps and other work on a work today/pay today basis. 

On September 28, Directions hosted Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean during an extensive tour of the facilities during which she engaged in several warm and intimate conversations with the youth there.  Energy was still high when the mayor visited later in the day to participate in the official launch of the “In Our Shoes Campaign”.  Please visit the website, and walk with the youth. 
 
This article was posted on the Family Services of Greater Vancouver website: