Lunch, Warmth, and Community

This piece was written by Vee, who recently visited the Union Gospel Mission lunch service in New Westminster for the first time and wanted to share her experience.

Tucked away among the old buildings and side streets along the southern slope of the Fraser River is an oasis of care, community, and good eats.

I’m talking about the Union Gospel Mission service building on Seventh Avenue in downtown New Westminster, which I visited for the first time in late December 2025.

I arrived on foot at 11:00 a.m. and was greeted by a dim, quiet room. The lights were low because a movie was playing in the cafeteria before lunch. People were chuckling, sleeping, or quietly chatting while enjoying complimentary popcorn, hot chocolate, and coffee provided by the facility. Some were eating baked goods and other breakfast fare from brown paper bags—items that had been distributed earlier in the day from local fast-food restaurants.

At 11:30, the lights came on and a UGM volunteer announced that lunch was about to be served and that the movie would continue while we ate.

The volunteer then turned to a large Christmas-tree Advent calendar board covered with round ornaments, each numbered for a day in December. He opened the ornament marked December 22.

Meal tickets—small slips of coloured paper decorated with Christmas designs—were handed out. If your ticket symbol matched one of the three tickets drawn from the tree, you were served first at your seat. Everyone else lined up to receive their meal.

By sheer luck, I was one of the recipients and was quickly served. I opted for the lightly battered salmon fillet for my entrée, just like André, though an aromatic sausage roll was the other option. The meal came with steamed seasonal vegetables, a deli-style rainbow rotini salad with peas and carrots, and a hearty cup of grainy beef and vegetable stew that smelled amazing.

We both agreed that the stew was every bit as good as it smelled.

Dessert was fruit—small oranges that day—and I was pleased to end such a tasty and satisfying meal on a healthy note.

Once we had finished eating, André and I walked to a table in the middle of the room and scraped our food waste and packaging into two clearly labelled receptacles.

Before leaving, I stopped at the beverage station, where black coffee, double-double coffee, and hot chocolate were being served from three giant urns. Sugar, stir sticks, and cups were set out nearby. André had his thermos with him, and the volunteer happily filled it to the brim with black coffee to keep him warm on his cold, windy walk home.

I can’t begin to describe how positive, heartening, and nourishing this experience was. The food and beverages were all free and served in a friendly, clean, safe, and welcoming environment. The staff—all volunteers—were kind and attentive, and made me feel welcome even though it was my first time attending the lunch service.

I would absolutely recommend UGM meals to others who are disabled or low-income. That said, anyone stopping by for a good meal will feel accepted and cared for.