Thousands of Downtown Eastside residents made their way to Oppenheimer Park Saturday for Union Gospel Mission’s 26th annual summer barbecue. “It’s a chance for the community to kind of come together, maybe get introduced to some of our services, and build connections, too,” said UGM spokesperson Nick Wells. The charity was expecting 3,000 people and prepared to serve as many as 4,000, Wells said. Volunteers cooked 4,000 hamburgers and 4,000 smokies, prepared 800 pounds of coleslaw, freezies and more – “everything to make sure that people go away happy and fed,” he said. “People who are experiencing poverty or are unhoused may not be able to enjoy the kind of simple things we take for granted in summer,” Wells said. “This is a chance for people to get together, for kids to play on a bouncy castle, to play in a ball pit, to get cotton candy.” For adults, it serves as an opportunity to take their minds off the pressures of day-to-day life and just enjoy a summer day. While the summer barbecue and other large meals – like those UGM serves for Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving – are some of the charity’s most visible efforts, Wells said the organization also serves about 750 meals a day across Metro Vancouver. UGM also connects clients with donated clothing, resources for addiction recovery, job training and more. Large events like the summer barbecue are a way for people to get introduced to UGM staff and volunteers, build trust and ask for help with their specific needs, Wells said. He referenced "Mind the Gap," a recent literature review conducted by UGM and the University of British Columbia that looked at four different care models that could be implemented and expanded in the Downtown Eastside. One thing they all had in common, he said, was that they relied on a “sense of community and togetherness” to help build connections with people in need. “That’s what an event like this does,” Wells said. “This is a case of our continuum of care in action, really.”
