Extending the Table: Grebel students volunteer at Ray of Hope

by Ally Siebert, English student

Grebel’s weekly Community Suppers have long been a staple of life within our walls. Now bringing supper to the Ray of Hope community is also becoming a vital Grebel tradition.

A Christian organization started in 1967, Ray of Hope serves nightly hot meals to around 250 guests out of their community centre in Kitchener. The meals are all prepared by volunteers and cooked in homes or church kitchens. Their outreach programs began by offering support to men serving prison sentences, but now extend a supportive hand to those “struggling with crime, addiction, or homelessness.”

Grebel student participation in the hot meal program began when Ian Reed, a third-year Grebel associate, was asked to take over the program from Waterloo Mennonite Brethren Church (WMB). Ian approached the Grebel student community in Fall 2012 to recruit monthly volunteers and to solicit donations to cover the cost of the ingredients. 

The support has been overwhelming. Around ten students gather on the last Monday of every month to chop onions, peel potatoes, and fry veggies for jambalaya, chilli, or shepherd’s pie - dishes that can be prepared quickly, reheated easily, and are filling. Volunteers meet the following day at the Ray of Hope community centre to make final preparations on the food, to butter mountains of bread, and to serve it in the Ray of Hope dining room. 

Though often people of more visible privilege, student volunteers unanimously acknowledge that the gifts given to them by the people at Ray of Hope mean just as much as Grebel’s gift of a hot meal. As Ian puts it, the experience is important because “it exposes us to a lot of issues that we are passionate about and need to be involved in, such as homelessness, poverty, mental illness, and even drug and alcohol abuse.” It is fundamentally a learning experience, based on personal interactions. First time volunteer Molly Furness says that she was surprised by who showed up at Ray of Hope, and that her assumptions and stereotypes were broken once the night began. “The atmosphere was one of thankfulness,” she observes. 

Recent changes to Waterloo Region’s public health policy now make it imperative that food served to the public is prepared in a kitchen that has undergone a health inspection. This has complicated the cooking process for Ray of Hope’s large home and church-based volunteer core. Now even more important under these new circumstances, Grebel students have seamlessly continued their contribution to the program, cooking in Grebel’s industrial kitchen. While Ian is away on co-op this term, second year Grebel associate Emma Carroll has taken over the job of shopping for ingredients and managing volunteers.

With committed participants and consistent new interest, the student organizers plan to continue cooking, serving, learning, and living out their faith. It is a true “Community Supper” when the table extends outside the walls of our College.