Nancy Morris introduced our guest speaker for the evening, Dave Feniuk. Dave is the General Manager of this amazing organization called Agape Table. He brings a wealth of knowledge and over 25 years of experience in the social services field. You can often find Dave in the dining area having coffee with the guests, sharing a laugh and learning about their journeys. He was born and raised in Deer Lodge. It just felt right to Dave when he moved back to Winnipeg to look for a house in the same area. He has been told that he is happily married to a very patient kind-hearted woman and a proud father of four amazing children.
Dave coaches and plays hockey in the winter as well as being on the St. James Minor Hockey Board. During the summer he coaches baseball and plays slow-pitch. Currently Dave is the Director for Manitoba for NSA slow-pitch which hosts 186 ball teams each year. In his spare time they try to get out camping every chance they get.
Dave Feniuk is very proud of the essential service that Agape Table provides for their guests. In one year they served 80,000 guests, 125,000 soup, 212,000 coffee. There is a staff of 7 people as well as 2,500 to 3,000 hours of volunteer time a month to serve the guests. For comparison, Siloam Mission has a $1.3 million budget for advertising. Agape Table operates on an annual budget of $600,000 for everything. At Christmas, Siloam Mission served 400 people in 3 sittings while Agape Table served 700 plates from 8:00am to 10:00am. A general comparison would have Agape Table serving more guests between 8:00am and 10:00am than Siloam Mission serves in 3 days. Dave and Jim Bell (Director of Siloam Mission) share ideas as well as the same guests. They have a friendly, but competitive, relationship.
Agape Table turns $1 donation into $15 dollars worth of food. They have collected 2.1 million pounds of food in a year. Agape Table is 100% donor funded with no funding from The United Way or government. Agape table operates as a non-profit. Typically they need to front the money for upgrades or repairs, then look for reimbursement later.
Dave was recently at a fundraising event for Christie House (AFM Family Services) which is funded by The United Way and Winnipeg Foundation. Dave wanted to donate $20 but was advised that there would be a $12 administration fee from The United Way added on. UNICEF has a very high administrative fee associated with donations. For every $1 donated 92 cents goes to administration and only 8 cents to projects.
In 2019, Agape Table served 2.1 million pounds of food and didn’t pay one cent for it. Dave calls himself a professional beggar. He has approached Federated CO-OP asking to get their food items coming up to the expiry date. He got approval and now every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday a 5-ton truck comes to Agape Table loaded with food from CO-OP. The trick is that he went to the “higher ups”. Dave plays ball with the warehouse manager for CO-OP, this is where he got the contact names to approach at CO-OP. Dave also arranged to get the ‘dated today’ food from Costco- McGillivary. This food they cannot be put on the selves, Agape Table gets all of it.
Another source of food has been Stella’s. They had an issue with image recently, so Dave approached them and said that if they donate their ‘day old’ pastries to Agape Table, Dave will go on Agape Table’s social media pages and promote Stella’s for their good deeds. The pastries have arrived!
There are 13 soup kitchens in Winnipeg. Agape Table is one of two that do not go through the line and look for impaired individuals. If there is any issue with these guests, they are advised to “go away – try again tomorrow”. They are given food to take with them. If there is a physical altercation the individual is advised to stay away for one week. The longest suspension was a guest that used bear mace spray. This guest was suspended for one month.
Dave has been stabbed twice with a spoon. They were suspended for a week. Why would they use a spoon to stab with? The round end of the spoon was used, not the handle. The reason is that the stab motion ends with a twist of the spoon. This makes an injury that you pay attention to instead of being able to fight back. A fork would just make four nice clean small holes.
‘Agape’ means unconditional love. Agape Table is a safe haven, a support system. Dave is able to sit at any table at Agape Table and know about 75% of the people’s names. Soup (made like a stew), coffee and toast is the mainstay meal at Agape Table. A subsidized meal for $1 is also available, stuffed chicken, coleslaw, potatoes, vegetable and coffee.
Twice a week he goes out to bring coffee and pastries to the 40 people that live under the Osborne bridge. They use large pieces of cardboard to act as wind breaks, then place blankets over the cardboard for insulation. These people may have addition issues, especially with meth. There are 9 household items that when mixed and cooked make meth. Meth used to be expensive to buy. 1 Kilo (2.2 lbs) was ~$200,000 now the price has dropped to 1 Kilo is ~ $18,000. When individuals purchase meth, they usually get enough for two injections. The first provides a euphoric experience for 2 to 36 hours. When they inject the second dose trying to get the same euphoric high, if they inject outside of 1 cm from the first injection, they may go into a murderous rage. They are always on the search for a perfect high.
Dave is trained to intervene in verbal and physical altercations. He is usually able to control them, but he never knows what weapon they may have on themselves. He is confident with his ability to talk to any of the guests, but he does have 300 other guests to look after at the same time.
He is concerned with the people on the streets of Winnipeg holding flags (signs). Please do not give them cash. Be prepared to offer coffee at a restaurant, a ‘Hot Shot” hand warmer, gloves, granola bars.
There is such a need for food. Dave has been the General Manager for four years now and has seen a 60% increase in demand for help. There are individuals with mental health issues that can’t go into apartments because they can’t follow rules. The doctors just want to throw pills at them. Dave attained a bachelor’s degree in Social Work (B.S.S.W.) at U.N.D. on a hockey scholarship. He was working on a master’s with his thesis on schizophrenia. The condition has an onset in males between 16 and 20 years of age, while females have an onset at age 31 to 34. These are the respective sexual peaks. He was doing his practicum by going on ‘ride-alongs’ with State troopers. The stats indicate that 9 out of 10 Canadians will suffer mental health issues before 40 years of age. There is not enough research about people with mental health issues when they go off their medications. Medications are a coping mechanism.
Prior to working with Agape Table, Dave was an Abuse Investigator with Child and Family Services for 8 years.
The job is quite simple actually, 300 people in, feed them. There are actually 3,500 to 4,000 truly homeless people in Winnipeg. The male / female ratio is 50/50. There are places to get free clean needles, free food, free condoms but where does a female get free female hygiene products? This is a pet project for Dave. In 2016 Agape Table served a 95/5 male to female ratio. Now that ratio is 80/20 - M/F. The guests know that Agape Table is a safe place. There is cereal for the children to eat for breakfast.
Agape Table also helps 39 other non-profits if they have any excess food. There are 114 food banks in Winnipeg. Most will fill a bag for the client not knowing what they need. At Agape Table’s food bank the items are set out in a horseshoe shape. The client can pick the items that they need. The food bank is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A fire at the donation warehouse in July of 2019 resulted in the loss of all the winter gear that had been collected for the coming cold season. A donation from Peavy Mart and local Kinsmen totalled $6,000. Then Peavy Mart let Agape Table go shopping at 50% off. This resulted in $12,000 in goods made available for the restocking of a new donation warehouse space.
Dave has asked for old pill bottles to divide a large shampoo bottle into more reasonable sized volumes. Also, rubber backed carpet is a welcomed donation. This is used by homeless to keep themselves and their personal items dry. Nothing needs to go to waste.
Dave’s ask of Rotarians is to come down and watch the magic happen. Come down for a cup of coffee. The order of priority of giving is;
- Food
- Time
- Money
Dave advised that the social worker in him needs to ask, “do you know anyone not affected by mental health issues or addictions?”.
Elaine Thompson thanked Dave Feniuk for his very impassioned and informative presentation. Elaine stated, “I have never met someone of your calibre, I learned so much”. Dave was advised that a donation would be made in his name to ShelterBox.
Dave asked in closing for the donation of any footwear for the spring season as well as all the clothing that you no longer wear.
President Mandy told Dave that his presentation was very touching, and she was sure that he will be hearing from Charleswood Rotary in the future.
President Mandy asked Kristy Stefanson-Tarasoff to come forward to be inducted into the Rotary Club of Winnipeg – Charleswood. Ed Thompson and her sponsor, Margaret Hemphill, stood with her. Ed officiated the Induction into Rotary for Kristy where he emphasised that Rotary is primarily about service to others. Margaret pinned Kristy with the Rotary Wheel. A framed Certificate of Membership was also presented. All present welcomed Kristy into the Charleswood Rotary Club.