Church says safety concerns behind eviction of Penticton soup kitchen

Church eviction about safety

Photo: Soupateria

The Penticton Soupateria at its current location is facing eviction.

The church evicting a Penticton soup kitchen says their actions are not for lack of compassion, but a lack of resources to deal with what they have deemed an untenable situation.

News broke last week that Penticton's Soupateria may need to close due to an eviction notice served by St. Saviour's Anglican Church, the neighbours and landlords at the non-profit's long-standing location on Orchard Avenue.

Soupateria is a volunteer-based organization that offers free hot meals 365 days a year, and has operated for 40 years. It is the only such organization in town, and serves 100 to 150 people daily.

Now, it is facing a May deadline to move, with the understanding that bad behaviour by some of the soup kitchen's clients has become too much for their church landlords to handle.

Rvd. Lynne McNaughton, bishop of the Kootenay Anglican Church of Canada diocese which oversees St. Saviour's, told Castanet on Tuesday it was a decision born of lengthy shared conversation and concern with the society that runs Soupateria.

"We just don't have the volunteer base. The increased liability and insurance costs are more than we can handle with this," McNaughton said.

"We don't have the capacity to meet the security needs anymore, or the amount of cleanup of the grounds that needs to happen. So this is about the safety for all of the community, ourselves in the members of St. Saviour's as well as the patrons of the Soupateria and our neighbours."

McNaughton said multiple St. Saviour's congregants have been involved with Soupateria, both as volunteers and on the society board.

"Obviously we care deeply about feeding the hungry. That's part of who we are as Christians, part of our baptismal vows, compassion and service to those in need. We want to respond to that, and we don't have the capacity to meet the security needs anymore."

Soupateria's president Roderick Strike also previously acknowledged a problem with "bad apples" amongst the kitchen's clients, but noted many who use their service are income-strapped seniors, single mothers and fathers with their kids, people between jobs and handicapped individuals simply seeking a hot meal.

Strike is now actively looking for a new location or a hybrid plan to keep the kitchen space, and perhaps move the service counter elsewhere.

McNaughton said St. Saviour's congregants are committed to continuing to work with Soupateria and other relevant partners like the city to assist in feeding those who are hungry — just not at that location.

She said she was not able to comment at this time as to whether a hybrid model like Strike suggested — keeping the kitchen where it is but distributing the food elsewhere — could be in the cards.

For more information on Penticton Soupateria, including how to donate to their work and to reach out to them about a potential space for their work, click here.