When food is more than a meal: Laura’s story
Laura spent 15 years homeless or underhoused. She stayed at parties all night because she had nowhere to go. She bounced from one shelter to the next. She slept under tarps or bridges.
An addiction to alcohol that began in her teen years ruled her life. She saw no way out. She didn’t eat regularly or have a place to shower.
Laura remembers being alone all the time. She often looked for a security camera and slept nearby, hoping that someone was keeping an eye on her from afar.
She was sure she would die this way: alone, hungry and on the streets.
After a stay at a recovery house in New Westminster and years of hard work solidifying her sobriety and healing her body, Laura is six years sober.
In 2022 Laura moved into an apartment at Sunset Towers, one of More than a Roof’s residences in Vancouver’s West End. For the first time in her life, Laura has a place of her own to call home. She feels safe and comfortable in the unit she shares with her rescue Frenchie, Miss Boo.
Once alone and hungry, she finds herself nourished — her heart and stomach full — in part by the community found at Soul Kitchen.
Soul Kitchen is More Than a Roof’s community dining room.
Three days a week, residents like Laura walk down the hall, gather together around tables, and tuck into Chef Levi’s famous stews, soups and hot breakfasts. As the meals wind down, conversation kicks up. New friendships are formed, familiar smiles emerge and the community is strengthened.
To Laura, food is essential for drawing people out of their apartments to create a thriving community. She’s seen it in action here at Soul Kitchen’s community dining room and beyond. “Food is the reason people come to these programs. They come to eat, especially at first. But then, they find connections.”
On the foundation of a safe home, access to regular healthy meals and a stable community, Laura is now able to pursue her vision of caring for her neighbours and other women who are still struggling.
Today Laura works and volunteers at the women’s shelters, spending time over the holidays with women who are isolated and living without a home. She is a mentor, advocate and community leader. Her adult children are no longer estranged and she is getting the chance to know her granddaughters.
Laura also runs a weekly crafting and upcycling group for women in her building. She helps them source new clothing and goods for their apartment, embellishing and refurbishing forgotten items to give them a second life. She organizes sales and markets, giving other women the same opportunity to feel empowered, creative and confident.
For Laura, the last few years at More Than a Roof have opened a new chapter in her life. Instead of loneliness, she now has community. Instead of isolation, she invests daily in her relationships. And instead of aimlessness, she has found deep purpose. And each day, with whatever it brings, is nourishing her — body and soul.
Learn more here about More Than a Roof Foundation’s programs that combat food insecurity like Soul Kitchen.