Holy Trinity Church in Winnipeg has had a long tradition of serving the community outside the church. Downtown Winnipeg is a place where people work during the day and entertain themselves at night. But it is also a place where people experience poverty and the issues linked to it: homelessness, addiction, trauma, and mental illness.
The lunch program that has operated out of Holy Trinity, under various names, has served the community for many years under the guidance of Fr. Henry Falconer and Rev. Donald Mackenzie. Covid changed the ability of the church to continue running this program as in previous years. The latest change is the incorporation of the program as a distinct and separate entity known as Downtown Neighbourhood Lunch, Inc. This enables the program to apply for grants and donations otherwise unavailable to churches and to provide receipts for tax purposes. This also represents a switch to a secular organization reflecting our current culture and our attempt to do no further harm to Indigenous Survivors.
The focus of the program is not only to be a presence in our community, but also to provide hot lunch (hot dogs in summer, soup in winter), hygiene supplies, hats, gloves, scarves, shoes and socks as well as resources. We believe that even if we can only help in a small way, we are called to do the little we can do. Hospitality is the underlying principle of the program, and we work on establishing relationships with our guests. All are welcome regardless of mental state, sobriety, or any other factor. We do enforce a no-fighting rule and have a drop in visit by the Downtown Community Safety Patrol towards the end of the serving time to help us with the occasional guest who doesn’t want to leave or isn’t well.
We hope to involve some of the businesses in the downtown area as supporters and participants. Last month, at our invitation, Premier Wab Kinew came to volunteer and see what we do. His presence, help, and ability to communicate in the language of most of our guests meant a great deal to them. It is part of our mandate to make them feel seen and heard. We hope to solicit dental organizations for toothbrushes and toothpaste and hotels for soaps and travel size shampoo. These items help our guests to maintain personal cleanliness which is a deeply desired situation. We also provide spaghetti and tuna in pop-top cans for ease of use. We also hope to draw in the support of other churches in our diocese who no longer have the ability to run a food program as St. Luke’s does. We are also looking for people to sit on our board, to provide donations of food, clothing, toiletries, and cash, and people willing to help prep, serve, and/or clean up.
Ours is a neighbourhood of deep, longstanding need. As food prices go up, the need goes up. We are happy to help in any way that we can. It is rewarding to form casual friendships with our guests. We are a diverse group comprised of Anglicans and community members working together with passion and caring. “For such as you do for the least of these, you do for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
