Serving up a little dignity.

So I want to tell you all about my favorite place in all of Toronto…

Each CSM city host (me, Jake, Jessica, Jennifer, and Jemica) has their own “anchor site” for the summer, which is a ministry site (soup kitchen, homeless shelter, etc.) that we specificially go to each day of each week for the entire summer. The group assigned to us as a host will work at this site for the entirety of the week, and we are able to form really special bonds with the people at our anchor site because they see us and we serve with them 5 days a week for about 8 weeks. My anchor site is a place in Parkdale (a neighbor on the west end of the city near the intersection of Queen Street and Lansdowne Street) known as St. Francis Table. It is best described as a “restaurant for the homeless”.

St. Francis Table has quickly and powerfully become my favorite place to be and serve at in the entire city. I’ve been working there for 3 weeks now, and I have never gotten tired of the work that we do there from 3pm to 7pm Monday through Thursday and 10am to 1pm on Friday. The staff at St. Francis Table is absolutely amazing, and the mission and ministry of the place truly brings me hope for the world.

Instead of being a free drop-in soup kitchen with an institutionalized atmosphere and little feeling of community, St. Francis Table looks and operates like a real restaurant. In fact, it is a licensed restaurant in the city of Toronto. It’s really small and quaint, and reminds me a lot of a small Italian bistro. Patrons (who are mostly homeless, but some include elderly people, students, struggling musicians, etc.) pay $1 to get a full-course meal with full restaurant service. This includes a wait staff, bussers, and EXCELLENT food. Patrons get to sit with each other at four-person tables, and are welcome to sit as long as they like while the restaurant is open.

Volunteers – such as myself and the groups I take to St. Francis – help prepare and cook the food, set up the restaurant, act as waiters and waitresses, be steamtable operators, make tea and coffee, serve desserts, and chat with those who have come to dine at our cozy little eatery. I absolutely loving being a waiter at St. Francis. A patron will sit at one of my tables, I’ll greet them and bring them a glass of water and silverware, ask them what choice of a meal they would like (there are usually two choices of EXCELLENT food), bring them their meal after it’s been plated on very nice china, make them tea or coffee to order, bring out dessert, and then just shoot the breeze over easy conversation.

What amazes me about St. Francis Table is it’s mission. The restaurant is operated by Capuchin monks (an order of Franciscan monks in the Roman Catholic church), and it serves to not only feed the hungry, but to offer the homeless, downtrodden, and marginalized a sense of dignity and self-worth by requiring a monetary donation ($1) that in turn allows the patrons to expect quality service from the wait staff and cooks. The restaurant is very clear that it is not out to save the world and end hunger. Instead, it openly and unashamedly preaches a social gospel of love, acceptance, and empowerment through its service to the poor of Toronto. Only a small number of people are served at the evening meal (anywhere from 75 to 140 people over an hour and a half), but those people get treated the same as people who have the money to afford nice meals with those they love in fancy restaurants. St. Francis may not be able to feed all those starving in the city, but they at least give dignity and respect to the few that come through their doors.