Door Is Open volunteers happy to take musical requests
Agnieszka Krawczynski/The B.C. Catholic
Every second Tuesday, a pair of singers from St. Mary’s Parish in Vancouver bring their repertoire to the Downtown Eastside, offering their tuneful accompaniment to the meals being served to homeless diners.
“I feel I have a gift from God to sing, so we come and sing here,” said Amalie Livera, a volunteer at The Door Is Open, which serves 300 to 500 free meals a day.
Livera and her friend Josie Castillo have been singing for hundreds of homeless and disadvantaged patrons every second Tuesday for the last three years. Reading from sheet music and playing a ukulele, the duo serenades downtown residents entering the centre for a hot lunch.
“There are particular songs they really like, like Amazing Grace or How Great Thou Art. They always ask us to repeat those,” said Livera. Guests often also request Just a Closer Walk with Thee and clap along enthusiastically to Lord of the Dance.
“I think they go out with a song in their heart. If you repeat that song several times, I think that message sticks.”
Castillo said she feels blessed to serve the guests. “We thank God for bringing us here to sing with them.”
Serving the poor is a cause her parish choir is passionate about. Many of her fellow singers have day jobs and can’t get downtown on a Tuesday at 11 a.m., but that doesn’t stop them from helping people in Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhood.
“We used to, as a choir, have Christmas parties and give each other gifts,” Livera said. “We now collect money and bring in a donation of food.”
Those donations are welcome, according to Door Is Open manager Scott Small. In 2015, the drop-in centre delivered an average of 400 free meals a day, and it has served 3,000 unique visitors in the last year.
In addition to providing regular hot lunches, the centre has expanded its services to include Saturday morning breakfasts and some Friday and Sunday night dinners.
Staff have also started serving take-out food, a service that became necessary when The Door is Open offered special meals for women or seniors. Hungry men arrived to find the dining hall already occupied. “They come to the door and don’t get any food,” said staff member Frances Cabahug.
Volunteers improvised and began handing out food through a door at the side of the building. In recent months, double Dutch doors were installed, making it easier to offer breakfasts or pastries to hungry passers-by. “It is a good way to increase our service without straining the place,” Cabahug said.
Meanwhile, as her fellow volunteers prepare meals to feed the homeless physically, Castillo and Livera feed them spiritually with song. “Bringing Jesus to them through music is the best gift that I can give to them,” Castillo said.
“When we are singing religious music, the people here are just listening and are touched by what we are singing. They pause and say they love that song. Sometimes they are singing with us. We are amazed with how these people react.”
After she and Livera sing, they offer to pray for their listeners. Patrons often accept.
“They are really thirsting for it,” said Castillo. “They are really longing for the presence of God.”
