Reflection from a Capital City Mission Volunteer

In 2017, I moved to Ottawa for university. During my first year, I lived in a residence building at the corner of Rideau and Friel, just 3 blocks from Capital City Mission (CCM). Despite my keenness to explore the area, I likely would not have come across the local ministry. Realistically, the Shawarma Palace was typically the farthest I headed in that direction along Rideau. 

I was introduced to the community of Capital City Mission through a now trusted friend and mentor, Daniel Desgroseilliers. In his role as an Intervarsity Campus Minister at uOttawa, part of his vision of discipleship is inviting students into active learning experiences. He invited me to join him in one of his visits to Capital City Mission, and I agreed because I wanted to learn about the experiences of marginalized groups in the city that I was growing to call home. A fellow first year student and I eventually committed to joining him weekly. 

After my first school year ended, I continued going to CCM because I had found meaningful fellowship there myself. I enjoyed doing puzzles with Richard. I enjoyed talking about the ins and outs of life with Diane. I enjoyed learning about sports, and hockey fandom, from Meredith. 

These visits were by no means volunteering. I was learning to see it as mutual fellowship. 

This idea of just being with people, that is so core to the mission of the Drop In, was new to me. I had moved to Ottawa after experiencing some bold evangelical ministries, and a big part of my values at the time included depth and truth – to me, this looked like having deep conversations that would eventually lead to the sharing of gospel truth. 

But what I found at Capital City Mission was simple and consistent fellowship, lined with merciful, mutual offerings through and through. I have been slow to learn this, and even though it does not often fit the idea of depth and truth I had when I started visiting, I now see that there is much depth and truth found in the fellowship at Capital City Mission. 

I learned that there is depth to showing up, to consistency, to being with people and not always to do things for people. There is depth to learning names, remembering them, and calling one by it each week. There is depth to the sharing of simple joys. There is depth to the sharing of lives over cups of coffee. 

Visiting Capital City Mission taught me that togetherness, despite the boundaries of age, class, interests, hobbies, or educational background, is powerful. We are far more alike than our differences can make us believe; we are common in our humanity towards Christ. Togetherness a reflection of the Kingdom of God. 

By my third year, however, I had not been visiting CCM as much. Instead, I had started volunteering formally at a soup kitchen, serving breakfast to a lineup of about a hundred people once a week. Though their service is vital in our community, this soup kitchen does not intend to be a community nor to foster fellowship like Capital City Mission intends to. 

I quickly realized that it would be nearly impossible to develop friendships like the ones I had built at CCM at this soup kitchen, since the only interactions between servers and clients could be smiles and greetings from across tempered glass that stood one another. 

I missed this togetherness inherent in the community at the Drop In. But it was not until COVID-19 struck that I checked in with Keltie about Capital City Mission’s needs. Many of the regular volunteers were vulnerable groups to the virus and had not been able to come in, and so she took me up on an offer to help out. 

I have now been a weekly volunteer since September, 2020, and I have loved getting to be a part of the team this past year. But it has been a very different experience than when I used to visit a few years ago. 

We have had to start making a lot more sandwiches than we used to, because there are far more people who have been grabbing one with the window COVID-19 set up. We have met many new people because of the window. Though, the interactions are shorter, and it has been hard for me to build friendships. The indoor space we had in the winter months was a great blessing in this regard, as we were able to safely visit with friends from the community for hours on end. 

But some of these differences have been extremely hard for this community to grapple with. COVID-19 has had a far different impact on already marginalized groups. Quarantining and social distancing orders are much more complicated for our friends living in community housing, alone, or without housing. Needs have increased. And with great sadness, the CCM community has lost a number of lives this year. They are missed dearly. 

Having spent time at Capital City Mission as I have completed my undergraduate degree, both as a visitor and a volunteer, has been nothing short of a blessing. At CCM, I have encountered love, practiced my listening ear, and been challenged from the inside out. 

Praise be to God.  

-Jenna