My First Two Days in Downtown Eastside

                   

          Thursday I met with Bob Burrows, a former minister at United who is still active as a volunteer. He has recently written a history of First United and its 125 years of ministry in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver on Hastings Street titled Hope Lives Here. 

         Bob was the founder of the Dugout Drop in Center in 1987 which has been open every day since. Alcoholics Anonymous started noon meetings there in 1968. The Dugout provides a morning soup line and passes out day old rolls and other donated items. Today they shared fresh raspberries. Bob is there at 6:00 AM to put the soup on and make the coffee before the doors are opened at 7:15. The soup is made daily from scratch with fresh chopped vegetables and lots of meat. People from the street stop in regularly during the day for a cup of coffee. 

          I have been encouraged to be a presence at the church, to participate in meetings and groups to get to know staff and find “my niche.” I will be spending some time as I did Friday at the Dugout. My task is to befriend and serve the visitors spiritually and emotionally. 

          Harsh realities of Downtown Eastside were very evident my first day. I saw three young prostitutes on Hastings Street in the middle of the afternoon. Hardly in their twenties, two were nodding off probably from heroin, and the other, given her complexion and mannerisms, was tweaking with crack or meth. Later I observed an ambulance coming to treat a middle aged Native woman unconscious on the sidewalk. They gave her an injection of Narcon to prevent her dying from a heroin overdose and rushed her to the hospital.

I value your thoughts and prayers!
Ross