Normally the November days on the West Coast of British Columbia are wet, rainy, and oftentimes fog moves in from Georgia Strait, lifting around noon. That’s how it was on the 16th of November 1982. After supper, I sat down and watched the evening news with Tony Parsons; actually I only watch television periodically, these being one of those times. I can no longer remember the details of all the stories that they discussed that evening, with the exception of one; which came out of the Interior of BC, more specifically, Quesnel. That story would forever change my life.

The setting was the Fraser Bridge in that snow-covered little Caribou Town. A couple was busy, serving those in need a hot cup of soup with sandwiches on a cold, frosty fall evening. Ice and snow covered the ground. People must have been freezing, as one could see the steam of the hot cup of soup rising in the air. When I watched that story, I immediately said to my wife, “that’s something we could do, let’s start a soup-kitchen,” as if a voice was saying, “You can feed My sheep.” The interesting thing about that story was that the man who helped make soup was a logger, who himself was out of work!

The more I thought about that story on that cold November night, the more determined I became. The next day, I still was very excited about the idea, having shared the news with Wayne Bergman, a dear friend and a trusted co-worker of mine, and like me, he too got excited and wanted to be part of this venture. The two of us started to work on this project together, planning and preparing for the opening day, which we scheduled for the first of January of 1983 On that New Year’s day, Wayne took upon him the responsibility of finding a suitable location where we could set up shop. My duty was to get all the necessary items for serving and feeding a host of people. Erika, my wife, made the very first large container of soup for us and eventually became our number one soup maker in the early years of our ministry.

As the opening day approached, doubts arose in my mind, are we doing the right thing? What will people say? What about City Hall? Indeed, those were some of the thoughts that went through my mind before opening day. But then I thought of that whisper in my ear, “You can feed My sheep,” and I said never mind what people will say, let’s go and do it! If people are hungry and in need, then we will feed them. So, with this attitude in mind, we proceeded in filling the Pinto station wagon with all the necessary items, such as the Coleman stove we took along, to keep the soup piping hot. Finally, the opening day came. When I arrived at the corner of Main and Hastings, Wayne was already there, informing all the people in and around Carnegie Library (now Carnegie Centre) that we had a gift for them: good homemade soup and sandwiches, and best of all, it was all free! In no time thirty-five to forty people lined up, making our first day a total success. As we cleaned up the area and assessed the situation, we told all the folks that we would be back the following Saturday at the same time.

From then on, we were looking forward to Saturday mornings and to our new-found friends. Of course, we were also excited about our newfound ministry and purpose. We shared our excitement with friends and neighbours, and as a result, word got around, people heard about our undertaking and soon some dear folks joined us in making soup and serving it at the location we dubbed, “The Corner”. Of course, there were also those that challenged us and cautioned us saying, “Why would you feed those lazy people? They should find a job and get to work.” We ignored these challenges and continued to serve at ‘The Corner’ every Saturday.

In May of 1990, I felt it necessary to form a non-profit organization, as the responsibilities grew over our head. Andre, my son was instrumental in helping us to get the society off the ground. Willing people joined us and helped wherever needed. Wayne and I elected some directors to give guidance to the newly formed organization. I offered my services as President for the first three years. We called it, Food on the Corner, for some obvious and some not so obvious reasons, you see it was the intention from the beginning to bring the LORD in as our partner to our organisation, for Jesus is called the Chief Cornerstone. Indeed we believe that to be the truth. At the same time, we recognize that all food comes from His hands in the first place. So we continued our ministry (which had since moved from the Carnegie Centre to the Vancouver Courthouse) with a strong and meaningful name.

As we are in our 39th year of serving the homeless people, our little Pinto has long been retired, and in its place runs a fair size white truck with our logo on. It is fully equipped to take all the necessary items, as well as some of the people who will serve the hungry folks downtown. What was once a two-man operation has expanded to a fair size organization of some 130 volunteers, serving up to 500 people any given Saturday. On a few occasions we had even larger crowds than that! But on most Saturdays, it may be close to between 200-300 friends. Today, Food on the Corner still serves each Saturday morning, a truly homemade soup, made my caring people in their kitchen! The soup is always piping hot! Our soup-makers spare no expense and use the best quality ingredients they can get. Not only that, but they put their love and prayers in it too, as they sincerely wish those less fortunate people a better future. Someone once said, “It only needs a spark to get a fire going!” Our soup makers along with all the volunteers want to be that spark in their life.

The 16th of November 1982 was the day that marked the beginning of our venture, however, I must say I was searching and praying for years, to find a purpose for my life and, for my newfound faith in Jesus Christ. Long before that eventful evening, my heart was being prepared for this ministry. You see, I grew up in Germany and after the war, care-parcels and food hampers were handed out to us, having come from caring people in North America. I never forgot that and how good the food tasted. It was heavenly almost! Many years later, when I immigrated to Canada I was blown away again, as people reached out to me and welcomed me, invited me to their home that too left a great impression in my heart. Then in the late 1960s people shared their Christian faith with me and invited me to their church. When I finally dedicated my life to the LORD Jesus Christ, things started to all make sense. During the years that passed, I learned that it was better to give than to receive, and I wanted to help, I asked, “What can I do to help some people in need?” I started intensely to pray and seek God’s will for my life! At times I got a bit impatient, until that November day in 1982. That’s when I knew, God answered my prayer!

As I look back on my life, I can truthfully say, I experienced the faithfulness of our God firsthand. I know He brought me to this land so many years ago, protected me and guided me all the way from Sudetenland, Germany to this blessed land. It was Jesus that arranged all those divine appointments, meeting the right people, all those many wonderful people. This is my testimony. I have experienced and witnessed His goodness. I have come to love this nation and its people and I am thankful that God put love into my heart for those precious people on The Corner. For all this, I will be forever grateful.