Soup Kitchen

Every fourth Saturday of the month, our parishioners have an opportunity to help the most vulnerable in our city by volunteering with Shepherds of Good Hope, a soup kitchen and homeless shelter located in downtown Ottawa. The first group of volunteers started through The Eastern Catholic Chaplaincy of Ottawa (2005-2015) of the Sheptytsky Institute. The volunteer work was then taken over by our parishioners at St. John the Baptist, and others outside the parish are also welcome and do join us.

We start at 8:30 a.m., cook lunch in the main kitchen and prepare food for the week by peeling potatoes, chopping vegetables, making sandwiches, and assembling dessert bags. Before lunchtime we pray and sing, then stay on to help serve lunch, and clean up, ending around 1:00 p.m.

We do this charitable work not simply to perform a social service, but in our own limited way, through the help of the Holy Spirit, to see Christ in others, serve Him, and learn to imitate Him. For only He can meet our truest and deepest needs, and we seek to live this awareness when we volunteer.

Your help is much appreciated. If are interested in joining us or being placed in our mailing list, please contact Daniel Bezalel Richardsen at volunteer-sogh@stjbshrine.ca