Five days every week, up to 140 guests turn up at the Rainbow Kitchen at 9 a.m. to grab a coffee and greet old friends. Later, they share a nutritious and tasty hot lunch in a safe, non-judgmental and welcoming place.
The Rainbow Kitchen’s guests include low-income and often isolated seniors, working poor families, people temporarily unemployed or unemployable and those dealing with mental-health or addiction issues.
The program provides a sense of food security to an estimated 1,100 individuals, serving more than 36,000 meals over the course of a year.
“While many come primarily to be fed, they also come for the friendship and support,” said Deborah Hunt, board treasurer for the Victoria Rainbow Kitchen Society, which runs the program. “We have regulars that come three to five days a week, others for just a few weeks due to changing circumstances, and some people just for a day or two.”
She said that during the summer months, the staff report seeing more family groups.
Guests are, for the most part, mostly people surviving on very low incomes, with barely enough to pay for their shelter requirements — leaving them little to buy food and other necessities.
While there are other places for people to get a free meal, many prefer the quieter atmosphere of the kitchen, which operates out of rented space in the hall of the Esquimalt United Church.
“Our guests tell us they don’t want to be downtown. They want to get clean and sober and turn themselves around,” Hunt said.
The vast majority of the food served is donated by corporate partners. With the exception of one paid director of operations, all work is done by 100 volunteers every week.
It takes more than free food and labour donations to run the operation. The day-to-day expenses add up to $125,000 a year, with no provincial or federal grants. A $15,000 grant from the Victoria Foundation for fiscal 2017-18 will be used to help fill this ongoing operational financial need.
While volunteers do most of the food pickup, preparation, serving and cleanup, the guests also try to lend a helping hand whenever they can. Recently, the staff arrived to find one shovelling the sidewalk during an unexpected snowfall.
“Our guests still want to be productive. They are here due to circumstances in their life and need a hand up, not a handout. Along with the meal, we also show them love and acceptance in a welcoming place.”
For more information, to donate or to volunteer, call 250-384-2069 or go to rainbowkitchen.ca.
