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weekend edition FRIDAY, OCT. 5, 2012 Vol. 103 No. 80 • Established 1908
31 30 Charity expects 3,000 for Thanksgiving dinner VIFF gets Camera Shy
100 wins
UGM eyes 1,500 pounds of potatoes Andrew Fleming Contributing writer
Union Gospel Mission kitchen manager Randy Spark pulls the turkey pieces from the oven.
photo Dan Toulgoet
Monday’s feast at United Gospel Mission in the Downtown Eastside will be much the same as other Thanksgiving dinners across the city. Friends, families and neighbours will break bread together, gobble down turkey and express gratitude for whatever good things are in their lives. The difference at UGM is a matter of scale. A total of 170 turkeys will be served at the free, daylong community dinner at both UGM’s new home at 601 East Hastings St. and another location in New Westminster, along with 1,500 pounds of mashed
potatoes, 900 pounds of vegetables, 900 pounds of stuffing, 80 gallons of gravy and 260 litres of cranberry sauce. For dessert, they’ll slice up 800 pumpkin pies and top portions with generous scoops from 400 litres of ice cream. Keela Keeping, UGM’s spokesperson, said she and a small army of roughly 200 volunteers are expecting to feed 3,000 people for this year’s dinner, roughly the same number who attended last year in the Thanksgiving debut of the 72-year-old non-profit organization’s $29-million new home. She said if there is one thing she is thankful for this year, it’s the new kitchen. See NEW on page 4
Social housing sites increase number of formerly homeless tenants Spring homeless count recorded 1,602 people
NOW SELLING! C A L L T O D AY: 6 0 4 . 7 2 8 . 0 9 8 6 | S a l e s C e n t r e a t O a k r i d g e C e n t r e
www.preludecityhomes.com
couver Coun. Kerry Jang, were critical last year of B.C. Housing, the housing arm of the provincial government, and non-profits for not offering apartments to more homeless people. The city owns the properties but B.C. Housing has funded the
majority of the construction and operating costs, along with several hundred thousand dollars from the Streetohome Foundation. “I’m glad to see that our tenanting levels are up to 40 per cent from 30, and I’m hoping we can still up that a little bit more,”
Jang said in the council chambers Tuesday. Brenda Prosken, the city’s deputy general manager of community services, delivered the latest statistics on the tenant mix in the seven buildings. See AGREEMENT on page 4
LD
Seven of 14 city-owned properties dedicated for social housing now have buildings on them with 40 per cent of their tenants formerly homeless.
City council received the news Tuesday at city hall from housing staff who one year earlier sounded the alarm that not enough homeless people were being housed in four of the buildings opened at the time. City staff, including Vision Van-
56 % SO
Mike Howell Staff writer