St Joe's Cafe

A Worthy Cause

On May 11th and 12th, Sister Florian, our in-house creative artisan, along with several assistants, held her 5th Annual Craft Sale in the foyer of our residence. It was home to an amazing array of crafts of all kinds.

A feature of the day was a beautiful hand quilted red and white Dresden Plate quilt. It was created by Sister Florian and carried home to Windsor by a lucky winner.  A large, pink, knitted afghan made by Sister Mary was the prize for another happy lady. Other smaller quilts, runners, placemats and quilted bags were on display.  Handiwork including a variety of knitted items such as popular baby sets, socks, dishcloths, afghans, and much more.

The fireplace side of the foyer housed Sister Dorothy Ann’s fine display of books galore: novels, biographies, spirituality, poetry, crosswords, and the like.  Business was humming as staff browsed the interesting possibilities of choosing a book and settling into a favorite pastime come rest and eventide. Other items were hand crafted cards, gently used CDs, and movies.

In keeping with the spring season, Sister Ruth Anne, with her green thumb, offered a variety of plants to whet the appetite of avid gardeners.  Her sturdy tomato plants were the first ones to be snapped up by staff and guests, and taken home to their waiting garden plots.  Other plants, large and small invited beginning gardeners to purchase a begonia seedling or an already potted array of mixed flowers to try their hand at a new hobby.  Free advice was offered with every purchase.

Throughout the days, eager staff, friends, and associates enjoyed searching through the many items offered.  When the doors closed, and generous donations tallied, the bazaar realized a tidy sum to be presented to St. Joe’s Café, the new name for our soup kitchen now in its larger location downtown on Queen’s Avenue.  Once again, we realize that when many hands work together, amazing things happen.  A rousing thank you to Sister Florian, the many helpers, and our kind contributors!

-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ

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St. Joe's Café

St. Joe’s Café - Our Newly Located Soup Kitchen

Sister Mary Jean Klatt, pictured right, at the original Hospitality Centre, London, Ontario, 1983.

Forty years ago, our London downtown “soup kitchen” was named St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre.  This coming Monday, August 15th, 2022, it will be sporting a new moniker - St. Joe’s Café, as it takes up residence in its newly renovated location at 602 Queen’s Avenue. We Sisters who have prayed for the success of operating at the new address, were delighted to have a preview of the new location.

 

As we entered the café through the inviting waiting space, we were intrigued by the beautiful hardwood pews - kindly donated by St. Andrews Church, soon to be a resting place for guests waiting to be seated.  Entering the spacious dining area, we admired bright white walls set off with pearl gray accents and millwork, forming a serene backdrop for the round tables and chairs to seat hungry guests.

Our Coordinator Tracey and Sister Margo, our Congregational Leader, were excited to greet us and point out some of the new features: newly updated stainless-steel stoves, refrigerators, and surroundings to a long, raised serving counter and roomy storage space - in large part due to kind donors and generous grants. This larger space will help us accommodate more guests, to assist those in need in our community who we hope will benefit from an inviting atmosphere, nutritious food, compassionate volunteers, and a feeling of community and deep hospitality.

Sisters make sandwiches to send to the Hospitality Centre for care packages during covid, 2020-2022. Pictured below, the many changes over the years. Sisters, Staff and Volunteers that make all of this possible.

The Hospitality Centre has changed and adapted over the years as demand has changed and grown. During the recently challenging years of Covid, when we were unable to host guests inside, our Sisters and Staff continued to feed those in need, making sandwiches and ‘take-away’ meals. On a recent Tuesday over 500 people were fed - this was the most mouths we have fed in one day. Quite a staggering and sobering number.

Also housed in the building at 602 Queens Avenue are our new partners - London Cares Homeless Response Services and Regional HIV/AIDS Connection.  One can envision other endeavors to come. This is truly a partnership that we hope, by joining forces and uniting core services in one location, will enable us all to better serve the vulnerable population in London.

Our faces shone as we listened and rejoiced that another dream has come true, reaching out to continue a long-ago desire of Sister Mary Jean Klatt.  In 1982, she rolled up her sleeves and in a little storefront on Dundas Street, with a couple volunteers, began to feed the hungry.

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj 

If you are interested in providing support to this vital ministry, you can SUPPORT THIS WORK HERE. We thank everyone that makes this ministry possible.