The Well Cafe serving hot meals for visitors (Bolu Apesin-Ola, CMRU.ca)
Poverty is a real issue that people face when they struggle to make enough income to meet their basic needs.
In the city of Calgary, 1 out of 10 people are directly affected by poverty and Centre Street Church responds to this through Compassion Ministries.
Compassion Ministries
Compassion Ministries works towards walking with people in their area of struggle with poverty by providing them help in areas that they may require.
“Compassion means to suffer alongside” and their goal is to help people live a life worth living as well as equipping them with more, as derived from their vision bible passage from John 10:10.
Compassion Ministries invites people to join them for:
The Well Cafe
Mon. 5:30pm – 8:00pm
Wed. 5:30 – 8:00pm
Food Bank Depot
Mon. 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Tue. 10:00am – 11:30am
Wed. 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Thur. 10:00am – 11:30am
ReNew Clothing
Wed. 5:30 – 8:00
Something More
Compassion Ministries also offers ‘Life Journey’ where they walk with people with more practical actions they can take in their lives.
They connect people to the church and introduce them to the faith as well as other resources whether financial or mental health support etc.
Getting Involved
The Centre Street Church Website has more information on Compassion Ministries and what they offer people, as well as different volunteer opportunities to get involved in the community.
More Information is also available by calling the church’s number at (403) 293-3900 and asking about Compassion Ministries.
Author’s Note
It was very interesting to see a response to poverty from the other side.
The real efforts that are being made to help people who are experiencing severe poverty is a lot more real than I expected. I am guilty of overlooking the fact that poverty can affect anyone at any age and getting to see this in real time was definitely a new experience for me. More importantly getting to understand a little bit of the different walks of life that people come from was also fascinating. Getting to sit down with Chris was awesome and sobering to learn what he’s experienced and also see how he can remain a smiley guy. While shooting footage, a lot of people expressed their concerns about being caught on camera. They mentioned that they were either uncomfortable or were avoiding being seen by certain people and this was the most flooring thing of all. I had no choice but to respect their wishes but also respect their openness and grace to kindly let me be aware about where they are in life.
My hope is that with the coverage on what Compassion Ministries does, there will be more people who become more aware of what poverty can do to people and remember that they are people who need to be walked along with just like anyone else.
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