Church on Five was full of laughter last Wednesday night when boys from the Richmond Sockeyes, the city's Junior B hockey team, came to help serve food and chat with around 200 people from the community.
This was the free weekly community dinner, Food for Life, hosted at the church at No. 5 Road and Steveston Highway, for people in need or those who treasure the time to socialize with others.
“It’s very special for us over here and also to us as a team," said Matthew Brown, a 20-year-old team member.
"My highlight is talking to people. It’s really cool to interact with them, and you really see smiles on their faces. They are very nice people.”
For resident Brabha Lokuhewa and her family, having the dinner at the church on Wednesdays has become a routine over the past year. She and her children joined her husband, who works in Canada, from Sri Lanka in 2015.
“The boys are pretty cool, very nice and awesome. They chat with others and are very friendly,” said Lokuhewa, while enjoying her chicken skewers and Asian-style salad.
“The program is good. We get to know more people from different cultures and get to see the community and others in society. It helps us get into their culture.”
Jing Zhou is also a frequent of the community dinner, and comes almost every week to eat with his old friends who he met at the church.
“I don’t socialize a lot but people need an environment to interact with others. It’s great to talk to people and make friends here. And the food here is great; all the volunteers are very nice,” said Zhou.
The Food for Life community dinner, started seven years ago at the Church on Five, is run by volunteers and community-raised funding, according to Wayne Massing, program coordinator.
Volunteers also pack 30 boxes of food every week to be delivered to people experiencing homelessness but who can’t make it to the dinner.
“We have seniors, homeless – not many, people who are lonely, single-income people... there was such a variety of people that were here, just hanging out with us,” said Massing.
He added that many people coming here don’t necessarily struggle with money, but suffer from a lonely reality.
"We have people showing up in BMWs, we don’t judge that, because some of those people are struggling from a lonely standpoint; they are not struggling from a monetary standpoint."
“One of the biggest things here in Richmond – and everywhere – is loneliness. So we open the doors and allow anybody and everybody. We don’t care who you are and we will have a dinner together.”
The program has witnessed changes in attendees and volunteers, who achieve a better life or develop a different perspective, after being connected to people here, according to Chris Wilson, co-pastor of the church.
In fact, a university student who started a petition last spring to support the controversial temporary housing for homeless, was influenced by his experience volunteering at the lunch, which opened "his eyes to social justice.”
“I’m always amazed at how with the right kind of support, the right kind of empathy, people can overcome tremendous things,” said Wilson.
