This is a love story … a story of the love of Christ by our Catholic students, teachers, and principals, and the mission to live out that love by helping the disadvantaged and homeless in Vancouver.
All 40 of our Catholic elementary schools have lovingly agreed to help the Catholic Men’s Shelter and the Door is Open by providing them with gloves, socks, toques, coats, etc., as well as personal items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, small-size bath soap, shavers, shaving cream, lotion, earplugs, Q-Tips, shampoo, and other related items. This will serve the 35,000 homeless men who stay at the Catholic Men’s Shelter every year and the thousands of men and women who are fed by the Door is Open.
The initiative started simply enough when I met with Solomon Atta, the acting director of the Catholic Men’s Shelter. Solomon told me about the shelter’s needs, and I knew just who to approach.
For many years, through the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s prison ministry and the Office of Service and Justice, I’ve worked with our Catholic schools on cooperative projects, such as students sending hand-written Christmas and Easter cards to the incarcerated and to the disadvantaged on the streets. I’ve visited the schools to talk about the corporal works of mercy. We’ve worked on lesson plans for street ministry, prison ministry, anti-human trafficking, and environmental care. The schools have welcomed guest speakers from prison ministry who are doing joint ventures with correctional institutions and by making wrist rosaries.
So when Atta asked for help, I reached out to the schools, who have been very faith-filled and generous with their time and resources. I called on six schools in February (Immaculate Conception, St. Mary’s, and Our Lady of Sorrows in Vancouver, St. Francis de Sales and Our Lady of Mercy in Burnaby, and Queen of all Saints in Coquitlam) and asked if they could help.
Every single one said “yes.” Even though the schools are busy and many requests are made of them, their reverence for life and the love for all of God’s children shone through.
The B.C. Catholic profiled one of the pilot projects in the Aug. 5 issue.
Atta has also been working with some very generous and supportive parishes and their attached schools, including Holy Trinity, St. Anthony’s, St. Pius X, Christ the Redeemer, St. Anthony of Padua, and Our Lady of Fatima.
The parents, students and teachers opened their hearts to this pilot test, and the results were incredible. Cars and vans loaded with boxes of needed items were either delivered or picked up from the schools.
When asked if the Catholic Men’s Shelter could use more clothing and personal items, Atta said there could never be too much. That’s when it started to get exciting.
Through the assistance of Rosette Correa, the educational consultant for catechesis and evangelization for our Catholic schools, Atta and I were able to make presentations to all 40 elementary schools and show them the results of the six-school pilot test. All the schools agreed to support the cause in this upcoming school year. Correa also noted that CISVA “aims to focus on these types of corporal works of mercy projects in our elementary and high schools. We want the young people to understand the importance of the Church’s teachings, and projects like these will give the students opportunities to participate in living out their faith to the fullest.”
One of the teachers asked whether there is a women’s shelter they could also donate to. Even though we don’t have a women’s shelter per se, I called Frances Cabahug of the Door is Open, the drop-in ministry that provides food, clothing, counselling, shelter services and referrals, and a warm and safe environment in the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Cabahug was happy to distribute women’s clothing and personal items to the women who visit the Door is Open daily for meals.
The result is that starting this September and continuing through June, all 40 elementary schools will be doing clothing and personal item drives for Vancouver’s disadvantaged men and women.
We may call this social justice or reverence for life, which it is, but at the end of the day, it is simply living Christ’s life and showing God’s love to everyone. And it’s appreciated by the people we serve. As one resident said, “Thanks to the donors. Without the warm jacket, toques and socks they donate to us through the shelter, it would have been hard to go out during winter, and without the toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soap it would have been hard to keep good personal hygiene daily.”
If you’d like to get involved or volunteer in street ministry, recovery houses, the Catholic Men’s Shelter, Catholic cemeteries, migrant ministry, prison ministry, or visiting shut-ins, please visit rcav.org/service-justice or email me directly at [email protected].
Bob Buckham is the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Coordinator of Service and Justice.
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