Two women in a restaurant hold up cups full of jiuce
Poverty

From pessimism to hope in a three-course meal

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Amy Romer, works as a mentor for Megaphone’s peer newsroom called The Shift in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.The Shift is made up of a diverse group of individuals with lived experience of poverty, who are reporting from the DTES instead of being reported on

Story by Jules Chapman, Michael Geilen and Amy Romer, Megaphone Magazine, Local Journalism Initiative

When one first arrives for Plenty of Plates outside of the iconic Save On Meats at 43 W. Hastings St., there are already people lined up wearing smiles and drinking hot chocolate. 

Some have little tickets in hand. They’re the most excited because they’re guaranteed to be served a delicious and nutritious three-course, sit-down dining experience with all the coffee, Shirley Temples and sodas they could ever want. Those without tickets cross their fingers and hope there’s space.

It’s a new system created by Ash MacLeod, executive director of A Better Life Foundation and the creator of Plenty Of Plates, in response to the meals’ popularity. MacLeod is on a first-name basis with most of his patrons, and as a way of encouraging new faces, he’s begun distributing tickets, valid for specific days, to targeted organizations in the Downtown Eastside (DTES).

Unlike a more typical non-profit soup kitchen, the evening is paid for, prepared and served by a local sponsor group — usually a business or non-profit team whose members volunteer their time for a night of culinary service in the DTES.

This is more than a canteen dinner. It’s a restaurant dining experience for those who can barely afford groceries.

“There’s nothing wrong with a canteen, they’re absolutely necessary for our community,” said MacLeod. “But our objective is much greater.” 

For every supper hosted, MacLeod begins the evening with an orientation for the 10-plus volunteers. On the night Megaphone magazine dropped by, a group of architects were ready to take their eye for detail into the kitchen as MacLeod prepped them on what to expect from the night ahead, but not just from a logistical standpoint. His orientation was bigger than that, like a TedTalk on debunking stigma through meatballs and chicken pie.

“They don’t realize the warmth they’re about to experience,” MacLeod said.

MacLeod’s mission is “to show Vancouver the beautiful people who live in the Downtown Eastside,” he assured a team of architect volunteers during an orientation in November. “Apathy won’t get us there, but empathy will,” he said.

Michael Geilen, a Megaphone peer journalist, was present for the meal.

“Not only are the staff great people, I really get along with Ash and I get to meet new people,” he said. 

Thanks to MacLeod’s orientation, which encourages volunteers to dig deep and present the best of themselves to the community, patrons are treated the same as they would be in a five-star restaurant.

MacLeod recognizes the power of providing dignified food.

 “We want to empower people to do anything — whether it’s find housing, attend detox, or seek support -— but you can’t do that work unless you’re fit, unless your basic human needs are met,” he told the architects. 

Each Plenty of Plates night, volunteers sponsor and serve up to 210 meals to 70 community members, all of whom live, work and survive in the DTES.

But that’s only a small part of what the social enterprise contributes to the community. Its daily meal program, which operates with zero emissions via Shift Delivery e-trikes, serves 1,800 meals 365 days a year (including Christmas), mostly to SROs in the neighbourhood. The foundation recently reached five million meals served since its conception in 2013, and is setting a bold target of serving one million meals in 2025. 

It was the closure of the iconic Save on Meats at the start of the pandemic that inspired MacLeod to ramp up the social impact side of his business. He felt it made sense to follow in the footsteps of Al DesLauriers, the prior owner of Save on Meats, who was a pioneer of social entrepreneurship, though MacLeod says he preferred to describe himself as “just a guy who does good business.”

Back in the butcher shop’s heyday, DesLauriers operated a community tab system for those who couldn’t pay up front and hired several people from the neighbourhood, making Save on Meats a cornerstone of DTES commercial activity.

Upon observing the interactions between people in the line-ups and at tables, it’s easy to see that attending a meal helps residents stay more engaged and connected to each other in an environment that is uplifting and dignified, where they are not frowned upon, but waited on. 

Plenty of Plates provides an opportunity for companies such as Lululemon, YVR and Arcteryx (all of which have sponsored meals) to climb out of any pit of empathy fatigue they may have fallen into, put aside misconceptions impressed upon them by mainstream media and physically engage with real people and real families of the DTES, MacLeod said.

“We want to take pessimism and turn it into hope.”

Geilen says he likes to sit at the bar near the entrance to the restaurant because it’s usually the last seat served.

“For me, it’s like a big family sit-down meal where I can see that everybody’s been taken care of before I’m served my meal,” he said. “Then I can really enjoy myself.” 

 To learn more or get involved, visit abetterlifefoundation.ca

Julie Chapman, Michael Geilen and Mike McNeeley are members of The Shift, Megaphone’s peer newsroom.

Amy Romer has been in journalism for more than a decade and writes with, photographs for and mentors The Shift.

Top image credit: Dinner patrons — including Megaphone vendor Anne Heidsma (right) — enjoy a beverage inside Save On Meats. Photo by Mike McNeeley

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