Over Christmastime, we often read about people who make it an annual event to come to the Downtown Eastside and take part in one of the Christmastime events, like helping to serve one of the many Christmas dinners at missions like Gospel Mission, where Im assistant pastor. But as Christmas Present gradually becomes Christmas Past, its important to remember that we could use people power in all seasons.
The popular portrayal of the Downtown Eastsidelike that perverse badge of honour, Canadas Worst Postal Codeprojects an image of an area with severe special needs. True, its a collision point of crime, drugs, prostitution and mental illness, and its someone venturing there once or twice a year can see that solutions go beyond a meal and a shelter bed and are probably complex, expensive and more than I can do. One might think that all one can do is help serve a couple of special meals a year.
But that would be wrong. We all hold a key that can help break that cycle of poverty.
Ourselves.
In eight years of ministry on the Downtown Eastside, one thing I have learned is that the dearest commodity is hope. Concepts like harm reduction or reducing the speed limit on Hastings may seem good, but they send a subliminal message that people in the area are incapable of functioning as full members of society (for want of a better term) and will ever be so. Wheres the hope in that? Without hope and surrounded by reminders of your past, present, and likely future, why bother stepping away from drugs and crime, seeking treatment, or even getting up in the morning?
It doesnt cost a cent, though, to talk with someone and, more importantly, listen to them. Knowing that someone cares enough to give face time and do it on a regular basis gives hope. You dont need a degree, training or all the answers: just bring love.
Jesus sees lost and desperate people as a crop to be harvested. But He did not say, We cant do it without money. He said, The labourers are few. Think about it.
One of our biggest challenges at Gospel Mission is getting people to work with us. We offer quasi-church services five times a week, and also have a non-church facility, The Lords Rain, providing showers five mornings a week. With more volunteers, it could be open six days and be covered when other volunteers are away. Other missions, Im sure, experience similar challenges.
Like the area, the job can be nasty. It will take you out of your comfort zone, but what progress was ever made without that? You will meet the incorrigibles, who have resigned themselves to their current situation and say they want to change, but deep down are like the man who tells us often, I love the drugs too much. You will be driven to frustrated tears at the sight of once-beautiful women ravaged by drugs, selling themselves for that next hit. You will grieve when you hear (often a week late) that someone you know has died.
But you will also feel tremendous joy as you see changes in people. These might seem big, like checking into a recovery program or leaving the area; or subtle, like conquering anger issues or just smiling again. Youll experience what Jesus Christ meant when he spoke of the shepherd wholl drop everything to search for one lost sheep out of a hundred and rejoice when he finds it. Youll even get joy from knowing that theyve found someone who cares enough to say, hello in there. You may even find, as I did (to my total surprise) that you have (to use the baseball term) hit the sweet spot and are doing exactly what youre supposed to be doing.
You hear lofty expressions like make poverty history. I dont believe thats possiblenot as an overall conditionbut by interacting, reaching out and helping to restore hope, we can make poverty history for individuals, so that places like the Downtown East Side become less of a dead-end and more of a cul-de-sac.
Drew Snider is often known as a spokesperson for TransLink; he is also assistant pastor at Gospel Mission.
