The Table Is Set for All: Serving with Love

As we mark this year’s World Day of the Poor on November 16, 2025, we’re reminded that poverty is not a distant issue—it’s in our neighbourhoods, our schools, and our parishes. However, it’s often hard to see before our eyes, since one of the most invisible signs of growing hardship is hunger.

A new report released in October 2025 from Food Banks Canada found that visits to food banks in British Columbia have increased by nearly 80% since 2019. Just under a third of those seeking help are children. “Groceries and eating healthy are two of the first things to fall by the wayside when people need to cut costs,” says Kirstin Beardsley, CEO of Food Banks Canada, in an article from CBC BC.

Behind these numbers are real stories: families skipping meals to pay rent, seniors stretching their pensions, and low-income workers struggling to make ends meet.

Here on Vancouver Island, local organizations are working tirelessly to meet the need, but are struggling to face the growing challenges of the times.

• The Soup Kitchen, Victoria’s oldest volunteer-run soup kitchen, located beneath St. Andrew’s Cathedral, has been serving those in need for 43 years. Rising food prices and operating costs now threaten this lifeline. “We need donations and volunteers to keep offering our protein-rich soups, sandwiches, and treats,” says longtime volunteer and incoming chair Teri Hustins, in an article with CHEK News.
• In Nanaimo, Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank feeds 3,000 people each week and distributes food to another 12,000 across the North Island—from Parksville to Port Hardy. However, with donations down 20% and costs climbing, even their Christmas hamper program is at risk, according to a recent article with CHEK News.

These organizations work hard to embody the Gospel call to feed the hungry and care for our neighbours. Yet they can’t do it alone. On this World Day of the Poor, we are invited to open our eyes, our hearts, and our hands.

How You Can Help

• Donate: If you can, give non-perishable food items or make a monetary contribution to help local food banks or food insecurity programs.
• Volunteer: Lend your time at a local food bank, soup kitchen, or community pantry.
• Organize a food drive: Partner with your parish, school, or workplace to collect food or funds.
• Raise awareness: Talk about food insecurity with others, sharing facts and stories helps inspire action and compassion.
• Reduce waste: Be mindful of what you buy and throw away. Encourage restaurants and grocery stores to donate surplus food.

In his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi te, Pope Leo XIV urges us “to recognize Christ in the poor and the suffering.” He writes that as we contemplate Christ’s love, “we are inspired to be more attentive to the sufferings and needs of others, and strengthened in our efforts to share in his work of liberation as instruments of his love.” Our faith cannot be separated from love for the poor, because it is through this love that we most truly reflect Christ to the world.

This World Day of the Poor, let’s choose to see, to serve, and to share. Together, we can nourish both bodies and spirits—one meal, one act of kindness, one person at a time.