Concordia’s Multi-faith and Spirituality Centre feeds the homeless.
Concordia’s Multi-faith and Spirituality Centre is continuing its tradition of feeding the less fortunate.
The Multi-Faith and Spirituality Centre’s website states that they are a “home on campus for all those who wish to celebrate the human spirit in the widest sense of the word; we are open to all students whether religious, secular or spiritual.”
The centre invites students of all faiths to prepare sandwiches and bake cookies once a month, from September to April. The students then go out in the streets and distribute the food to those in need.
These events are not only an opportunity for students of different faiths to interact with one another, but they also allow students to “contribute to the community in a positive way and show that intercultural and interfaith relations are a reality and something that we can all build upon,” said Ashely Crouch, the manager of Concordia’s Multi-faith and Spirituality Centre.
Crouch said the initiative was created five years ago because “a lot of students wanted to come together to do something really good together.” All students are welcome to drop in and help out, even if they only have 30 minutes between classes to volunteer.
They prepare various kinds of sandwiches, such as tuna, chicken and peanut butter and jelly. Any meat used is halal, which means the animal was killed in accordance with specific practices of Islamic law.
On average, they aim to make 80 sandwiches and cookies in total. However, depending on the number of volunteers who are able to pass out the food, this number may change.
Students distribute the sandwiches in groups of three or four, and are assigned a general area, such as the Place-des-Arts metro station, the Guy-Concordia metro station, or Cabot Square due to its high concentration of homeless people.
Before students take to the streets, Crouch reminds them to stay in their groups, not to approach people that seem dangerous, to never offer money, and to always treat people with respect.
Crouch said students often end up having interesting conversations with those they meet as they hand out food. “It humanizes people and it allows us to really have conversations with people that we might not otherwise,” Crouch said.
The next multi-faith event will be held on Oct. 30
Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
