Thousands celebrate UGM’s 24th annual Easter dinner

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Union Gospel Mission celebrated its 24th annual Easter meal with thousands of people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Saturday.

Many of the volunteers were once in the line up to get food.

Rick used to eat the meals at the mission but now he serves them. He says he came from a good, middle class family, but admits to falling into drugs and alcohol addiction. He remembers eating at the Mission five years in a row. One day he turned things around, joined a recovery program, and now volunteers.

“I need to counteract my self centredness from before. They gave me my life back right, so it’s the least I can do,” he says.

He admits the road to recovery isn’t easy.

“For sobriety, I think it takes a little bit of willingness to want to stop and I understand down here there are a lot of mental health issues which is really unfortunate because of the mixture of the drugs down here, it’s really tough for some people to really break that cycle,” he says.

Many people have similiar stories of struggle. Jody admits to getting help from the Mission for 13 years. Although he knows things can be tough for many like him in the impoverished community, he does have a roof over his head and has a lot to be thankful for.

“I’m not from here originally. I don’t have any family here but I have a lot of friends that are like family….If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t feel a sense of belonging and I’d feel isolated,” he says.

“People can only help themselves, right?  You know, if you’re caught up in addiction which a lot of people are, I mean people can only help themselves, and that’s the sad part. You can take a horse to water but you can’t force them to drink.”

He’s grateful for the UGM community and other social services for keeping him on the right track for now, as he says everyday is a battle with the demons from his past.