I enjoy my community coffee chats; I get to meet interesting people, and hear first-hand their concerns and ideas. I also enjoy bringing new customers to cafes and restaurants. I’ve held dozens of coffee chats, and been to every neighbourhood and spoken with a wide variety of people.
The conversations have been great, and the hosts very kind. Today was no different in that regard. I was at the cafeteria at Our Place, on Pandora Ave.
I made a small donation to help cover the cost, as Our Place provides free meals. I got my plate and ate and chatted with three people who were having meals. The things they wanted to discuss were things I’ve also heard from many others at my coffee chats, e.g. lack of housing, including affordable housing, addiction and toxic drugs, inequality, street disorder and safety.
I also heard a lot of gratitude – for Our Place, for Mount Edwards Court (run by Baptist Housing Society), for the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness, for governments building supportive and affordable housing, and for how beautiful Victoria is (it was a warm sunny summer day).
I also spoke briefly with a couple of Our Place workers, who pointed out the need for positive flow through the supportive housing and broader housing system (we need to avoid gaps in the system that stop people from moving toward independent living).
After I announced this coffee-chat one person emailed that they would not attend because they were not comfortable attending at Our Place. That’s OK of course – to each their own. I let them know that I’ve been to Our Place many times, and have never felt unsafe there (same today). I’ve been in the cafeteria serving meals on holidays, as have most of my Council colleagues, as well as Council members from other municipalities, people from the Chamber of Commerce, Fire Dept etc. But I respect everyone’s decisions about what’s best for them.
Here’s a bit more about Our Place, from the website:
“Our Place Society has grown from a unique inner-city community centre to multiple locations serving Greater Victoria’s most vulnerable, including people struggling with homelessness, mental health challenges, substance use issues, the working poor, LGBTQ+, and impoverished elderly.
Our Place provides over 1,400 meals every day, over 500 units of housing plus transitional shelter spaces, hot showers, education, job skills, health care, addiction recovery services, donated clothing, counselling, outreach services, and more. Our Place also operates a successful, long-term recovery community for men. Most importantly, Our Place provides a sense of hope and belonging to our neighbours in need.”
You can help Our Place. They do good work.