Dot Com Soup Kitchen Lunch at Union Gospel Mission
October 2nd, 2007 by Ed Lau |
No, no…despite the low returns we now get from the US dollar, the Vancouver Dot Com crew hasn’t come upon some hard times. John was invited for a tour and lunch by the fine folks at Union Gospel Mission and asked us all to tag along.
UGM has been helping people in Vancouver since 1940. They not only serve over 280,000 meals and provide shelter for 10,000 each year, but there’s drug and alcohol recovery programs and community outreach to help folks get back on their feet. The facilities serve the Downtown Eastside, one of the poorest areas in Canada, where drug use and prostitution is an everyday problem. However, the UGM shows everyone that there’s a hope for a better future if they’re willing to give it a try.
Personally, I have never been in this area of town. Heck, I don’t even know if I’ve driven through it but a walk through the streets was an eyeopening experience and a reminder that even in one of the best cities in the world, there are still lots of folks that could use a little help.
Lorene Vernon and Kevan Gilbert gave us a tour of the facilities.
Michael Kwan, me, Kevan Gilbert, Stephen Fung, John Chow, Greg Morgan and Danny Chang.
The soup kitchen food was quite a bit better than I expected. It, of course, wasn’t one of the fine dining experiences that we’re usually going out to but it was a good, home-style cooked meal that anyone would enjoy.
Stephen, in particular, enjoyed it a lot. Yes, he actually ate those mountains of food. Yes, two loaves of bread.
If you’d like to help out with donations to Union Gospel Mission, you can do so HERE. Thanksgiving is just around the corner (…in Canada, we have Thanksgiving in October) and a Thanksgiving dinner is only $2.59. C’mon, folks…we spend more than that on just coffee every day. The UGM does some really great work and hungry folks get some food and some hope.
Once you make a donation, forward of copy of the e-mail receipt to John’s e-mail and he’ll match your donation.
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Thanks for the post, Ed. That photo of Stephen is hilarious. And it was great to have you guys all come out! Our Gift Processing staff are already starting to notice a significant increase in the PayPal donations. You gentlemen rock!
[...] the food line was Michael Kwan, Ed Lau, Greg Morgan, Danny Chang, and John’s Wife, [...]
“Chow”ing food with John Chow. He’s going to match donations? Wow, that’s nice.
I give food to my local food drive this time of the year. A few times, I’ve volunteered at a soup kitchen. It was an eye-opening, humbling experience.
That’s great!
I just made the donation.
http://myblogcontest.com/get-a-backlink-from-johnchow-dot-com/