The Door Is Open: Memoir of a Soup Kitchen Volunteer

Christine Hughes is A/Manager, Developmental Services Branch, Ontario
Ministry of Community, Family and Children’s Services.

The Door Is Open begins with a page of “selected facts” relating to
poverty in Canada. The first of these facts states that “the downtown
eastside of Vancouver makes up most of the V6A forward sortation area,
which has the lowest median income of all 7000 of Canada’s postal
prefixes.” The book goes on to detail the author’s experiences as a
soup kitchen volunteer at The Door is Open, a skid row drop-in centre
located in this part of Vancouver. The downtown eastside of Vancouver is
home to more than 10,000 poor people, mainly single men, many of whom
once worked in remote, coastal logging camps. This memoir is a
compelling and compassionate look at an area known for its social
problems—poverty, homelessness, prostitution, high crime rates,
alcoholism, and drug abuse. The author challenges his readers to
reassess their notions of friendship, poverty, and charity.

When Campbell was volunteering at The Door is Open, there were 60
poverty programs operating in the downtown eastside. He describes how
recent gentrification of the area has seen the conversion or demolition
of many single-room occupancy hotels and rooming houses to make way for
backpacker hostels and condominiums. Through this memoir, the reader
becomes acquainted with the panhandlers, squatters, Aboriginal women,
foster-care providers, and the mentally ill who inhabit this poor part
of Vancouver. The text is interspersed with 13 black-and- white
photographs and excerpts from the author’s diary, as well as relevant
historical and statistical information