On Christmas Day, Judy and Bill Anderson quietly bless the stack of home-made meals they’re about to hand out on Winnipeg’s riverbanks.
The church-going couple volunteer delivering meals to unhoused people weekly, year-round. This Christmas, they’ve received around 200 meals from Mission Baptist Church to hand out to anyone who might need it across the city.
The church, which has held the popular Christmas Day dinners every year since 1998, was expected to serve around 500 meals in about three hours on Monday. By noon, people are already lingering by the doors, waiting to get in.
“I really feel that the Lord wants me to feed people on the street. That’s really what I feel,” Bill, 76, said Monday. “This is just another day in that process. It happens to be Christmas.”
While there will be live music for those who will eat indoors at Mission Baptist (a guitarist prepping on stage checks his microphone by repeating ‘Hallelujah’ into it) the Andersons won’t be able to catch it — as soon as hot turkey and cold drinks are packaged and ready, they take to the streets.
Their familiarity with the process is apparent as they drive through the West End, food in tow. The pair point out spots where they regularly meet people in need, and pull over to hand out drinks on the drive. Sugar is important, they explain, to comfort people who may be experiencing drug withdrawals. Water bottles are crucial, too.
“We have our, sort of, set route,” Judy, 60, explained.
“The people that are further away from resources are the people we like to go to first, and then we’ll come back if we have lots.”
Along Waterfront Drive, many people who had been living in tents in warmer months have moved on to shelters or other housing as the temperatures have dropped. Some remain, however, including a 27-year-old woman who comes out of one of the remaining tents and chats for a bit while receiving meals for her and another person staying in the tent. She has been staying in encampments around the city for three years after losing her job during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the Andersons, Christmas is just another day for her in many ways.
“I’m kind of just doing my usual daily things that I do,” the woman, who asked that her name not be published, said.
Moving along the encampment, some are grateful to get a quick meal, others are looking for something more — one woman immediately begins to sob, telling Judy she had just lost a close friend to a drug overdose. Judy holds her hand and prays that Jesus offers her comfort.
Judy said it’s a regular occurrence to meet people in need of a listening ear, or a prayer, on their weekly trips.
“There’s a lot of people, even in our church, that are afraid of people on the street, they’re uncomfortable around the homeless … but if you don’t go and bring the hope, nobody else is going to do it,” she said.
It’s a motto that rings true for one of their next stops — a lot on Higgins Avenue named Asiniskawe by the people staying in its 21-pole teepee. Around 28 people are staying in the teepee (moved to the area after an encampment on the Manitoba legislature grounds was dismantled last year) and it remains open to anyone in need of healing or guidance. For some, it’s a warm place to stay and a chance at a home.
The Andersons drop off meals at Asiniskawe just as one of its leaders, a Cree woman named Sipihko, arrives. She had spent the morning handing out socks, hats and sandwiches on the streets with others staying at the encampment. Now, anyone who comes by the teepee will be able to get a warm meal, and if they have any left over, they know where to find hungry people.
It’s a constantly-moving cycle of giving from people from every walk of life in the community that helps ensure everyone is fed at the end of the day.
“Nothing ever goes to waste,” Siphiko said.
“And the people that come help when we get them things, they’ll help us with the garbage and stuff. And then, we’ll give them what they need.”
malak-abas@freepress.mc.ca
