Skip to content

Home-cooked meals for Coquitlam homeless

A group of Hope Lutheran Grade 8 students are learning how to cook - and be compassionate to others less fortunate then they are.

A group of Hope Lutheran Grade 8 students are learning how to cook - and be compassionate to others less fortunate then they are.
Under the watchful eye of Grade 8 teacher Lisa Olding, the students made brownies and macaroni and cheese for homeless people staying at Calvary Baptist church last week and will be taking turns volunteering with the Cold Wet Weather Mat program.
The students say they are learning how to interact with people from different walks of life through the school program.
"It was a casual atmosphere," said Andrew Sahaydak, describing his work at the mat program. He helped serve lunch and heat up food and mingled with 10 people who were driven to the church by members of the Hope for Freedom Society that runs the program.
"It helps us to know what they are going through," said fellow student Nyasha Chibangu.
The students are also planning a trip to the maritimes in spring where they will do outreach work with the Lutheran Church Canada.
Olding said the students will be traveling May 22 to 29 to Prince Edward Island and Moncton, New Brunswick. It will be a good experience for the teenagers, said Olding, who said the students will work with food distribution vans, do light maintenance and work with a youth group.
She also hopes they learn to cook and share their knowledge, and their recipes, with their own families.
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com