Thomas Reppchen introduced speaker Rick Lewell, from Food on the Corner.
Food on the Corner (FoC) started in 1984 with only two people. It was a passion of the founders, Herman Glocker (still involved) Wayne Bergman, to help others. Herman had a pinto station wagon, in which they brought a homemade bucket of soup to the corner of Main & Hastings. Herman was a fairly recent immigrant from Germany who wanted to give back. He felt that there was something not right – he had so much and wanted to share with those who didn’t have.
Word leaked out – the group grew to 8 or 9 members. The one 4-gallon bucket that went downtown, grew to four 25 litre soup pails, along with sandwiches, and coffee delivered 11:00 a.m. Up until COVID in February, when FoC stopped for a time, they had been serving consistently since 1984 never missing a Saturday, even when their vehicle broke down they found a way.
The FoC service stopped for about 2.5 months due to COVID but is now back on-line. Have had, until recently, about 115 volunteers (some from RCoV) that includes people volunteering every week on a rotation basis, making sandwiches, soup, and serving. They have a specially built cupboard to house the food on their truck. There are 4 groups in Tsawwassen preparing the food, most are seniors who thoroughly enjoy the task. Save On & Thrifty’s in Tsawwassen provide bread buns, sweets to complete the service. If there is anything left over, they have others in need who receive it all so nothing goes to waste.
Everything is now served as bagged lunches with COVID, and soup in cups ensuring minimal contact. All Food Safe guidelines are followed.
Truck stored in Tsawwassen, load there about 9 a.m., usually 5-6 people travel downtown in the truck where several more volunteers are met. They meet in front of the city courthouse on Main Street, which works out well. One rule: as we all should do everywhere we go, leave the location better than we found it.
Rick has been involved for 18 years but is still one of the “rookies”. FoC serve people on the downtown eastside who have been truly brushed aside by society. All ages come, from youth to seniors. One of the goals of FoC is to try and build self esteem and self worth to help, in even a small way, individuals find their way back to mainstream society. There are some good news stories along the way but unfortunately, it seems with the type of drugs available now its becoming harder and harder for those stricken with the disease of addiction. The truck drops off extra supplies to the women’s shelter and it has been noticeable that the number of addicts in the alley has increased incredibly of late, so sad.
A lot of volunteers are Delta based but not exclusively so. The main cost of doing business is the maintenance and running of the truck. Found a new vehicle down in Tahoma that has worked out really well. COVID has made keeping everything highly sanitized a challenge but it is working.
Great appreciation for all the volunteers who help out! Our club’s involvement is about the same age as the truck. The partnership with our club has worked out really well – it’s a great way to get boots on the street to directly help the community.
If you are interested in helping don’t hesitate to contact our community service committee, community@rotaryvancouver.org.
