Monday to Friday Peter Jansen is a city bureaucrat, working as a manager in the maintenance department.

But every Sunday evening, he dons a chef's hat (figuratively, at least) and takes crock pots full of piping hot, home-cooked food down to the Richmond bottle depot, where many of the city's homeless gather.

"We have a little Pontiac Vibe and just open up the back and serve it out of there."

We, being he and his wife Glenda (who, he admits, is really the one wearing the chef's hat.)

It's something the couple has been doing, rain or shine, every Sunday evening for the last two years.

"I guess it was a couple of years ago when your paper was doing a lot of stories about homelessness in Richmond. Our church (Calvary Chapel) wanted to do something."

Jansen's church had done charity work in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, but its members felt there was also a need right here at home.

The first idea was to have the youth group make and handout sandwiches to the homeless.

The problem was no one knew where the homeless were. Poverty groups in Richmond have often said that one of the challenges in dealing with the problem here is the fact that much of the homelessness in Richmond is invisible.

However, Cowboy wasn't invisible to Jansen.

Cowboy was at one of his favourite haunts, panhandling.

"I stopped and told him about our idea and asked where we should go. He told me the bottle depot at closing time."

Specifically, he was referring to the bottle depot behind the Save-On-Foods store on Ackroyd Road.

The youth group did take sandwiches down there, but it was Jansen and his wife who, in January 2009, picked up the ball and decided to make serving Sunday supper at the depot their project.

The number of people who have come around to enjoy Glenda's chili, stew or whatever she's cooked up that night, has ranged from five to 25. On average, however, the couple serves 15 or 16 people a meal. That number has steadily increased over the past two years, Jansen notes.

"What's struck me is how industrious they are. They are extremely hard workers."

They have issues, but they survive and the fact they're able to manage as they do is admirable, Jansen adds.

The city employee is also reminded of the quote, "there, but for the grace of God, go I."

"I have worked for the City of Richmond for 32 years, and in my time working with people on the street, I've met four people who I've worked with in the past at the city. I remember one man I met, and he started talking to me like he knew me from before."

It turned out Jansen had worked with the man, Jim, at the city for 15 years until one day Jim just didn't show up.

"I didn't think anything of it. I thought he had just moved on."

In fact, Jim was suffering from mental illness, which launched a downward spiral that eventually landed him on the street, unrecognizable as the city staffer Jansen had once known.

"People get caught up because of issues and circumstances," Jansen says, noting that it's not his place to judge, just befriend.

"That's really what we're there to do; be friendly, be neighbourly.

"They are our neigbhours. We treat them like that and take time to talk to them. So many people treat them like garbage. We're hoping if they see their worth, it will spur them on to get help."

Speaking of help, Jansen talks with deep respect of one man, Mark, who the Jansens befriended and put in contact with resources. Mark has since turned his life around.

"He has an incredible story, and he's been clean for over a year now."

But if the people the Jansens serve don't "clean up," "dry out," etc. -- so be it. They still deserve a hot meal once in a while, according to Jansen.

"For sure there are bigger issues, but there are immediate needs too, and that's what we're trying to help take care of."

Jansen is not interested in making a political statement with his work or commenting on resources. He is, however, hopeful other church groups will work with him and perhaps offer a venue for their Sunday meals.

"Often we're just eating in the rain."

For more photos and a video of the Jansens' Sunday supper and a link to more information about the project, check out the News website at www.richmond-news.com.

eedmonds@richmond-news.com