Living the Gospel message through feeding the hungry
By Annette Gagliano, Youth Speak News
Toronto - On a cold winter morning, a group of student volunteers from the University of Toronto gathers in the kitchen of St. Basil’s Church to prepare platters of deli meat and cheese sandwiches for those in need. Along with the sandwiches, the soup of the day is red lentil.These students come from diverse faiths and ethnic backgrounds, but they are all here for the same reason: to help with the Out of the Cold program run by campus ministry at the University of St. Michael’s College, the Catholic college at the University of Toronto.
Every Tuesday, from the beginning of November to the end of March, the Out of the Cold volunteers gather in the parish hall at St. Basil’s, located on campus at St. Michael’s College.
Amanda Mastrocola, one of the head co-ordinators, said the program is possible through the efforts of the volunteers.
“Whatever personal reasons that drive (the student volunteers), they come in every week . . . They work so hard,” said Mastrocola, a fifth-year Christianity and culture and philosophy student. “And getting to know these people is inspiring.”
While the volunteers professionally perform their duties, they are also very personal with what they do.
Volunteers address the patrons by their first names and besides providing a meal, they offer companionship, friendship and hope, Mastrocola said.
But Out of the Cold is not unique to the University of Toronto. The program is a faith-based, volunteer initiative run by various groups and organizations. At the University of Toronto, the program began in the early 1990s. A student from St. Michael’s College School brought the idea from the Out of the Cold program he and his classmates had started at their high school, after being stirred by a homeless man named George who slept on the school’s property.
Yearning to make a change, students, with the help of the school’s chaplain at that time, Fr. John Murphy, and his assistant, Sr. Susan Moran, initiated the program to feed the homeless and provide shelter for them.
Twenty years later, Out of the Cold is still thriving. Funding for Out of the Cold at the University of Toronto is possible through donations from Rod McEwan, a private sponsor, funding from campus ministry at the University of St. Michael’s College and the St. Michael’s College Student Union.
Second-year religion student Leigh Martha has been volunteering with the Out of the Cold program since starting university.
“Jean Vanier defines those that are poor as those that are in need. All of us have different needs, and, in fact, all of us are poor in some way,” Martha said. “It’s up to all of us to try to help lift one another out of these impoverishments and enrich our lives.”
Andrew O’Connor, a fourth-year civil engineering student, said volunteering for Out of the Cold is an inspirational experience.
“It’s always my favourite part of the week and there’s something about it that I like a lot more than everything else I do,” he said.
Marilyn Elphick, director of campus ministry at St. Michael’s College, is very aware of the students’ contributions to the community.
“I am very proud of the students because they are taking the Gospel message and living it. They come from different cultural and religious backgrounds, yet they work together for the common good, which is to feed the hungry and to offer hope to those who are less fortunate, like Jesus Himself would have done.”
(Gagliano, 20, is a life sciences student at The University of Toronto.)
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