An organization that has long helped feed the people of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) now has a permanent location in the community.

Guru Nanak’s Free Kitchen (GNFK) celebrated this weekend as the charity took possession of 245 East Hastings St., a big step for the group of volunteers.

GNFK started as an idea in 2006, when like-minded people in Vancouver’s Sikh community decided they wanted to help the community; at the same time, there was no real Sikh presence in the DTES, says Raman Khaira, a longtime volunteer and one of the directors of GNFK. He also spent a decade working at DTES.

Sikhism includes langar, communal cooking and seva, the practice of selfless service (two concepts taught by Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism and the namesake of the organization), so serving the meals seemed reasonable. for the group.

The first service took place over ten years ago, with volunteers using their own vehicles to transport food from the gurdwara to the intersection of Main and Hastings. It’s been basically the same practice all these years, but it has evolved, with the services becoming more frequent (they’re weekly now) and more efficient (they even have a big truck to serve food).

Each week, they regularly distribute 500 meals to hungry residents, with other events occurring throughout the year. These include the distribution of cupcakes to shelters in November, a toy drive in December, and a food rescue program with area grocery stores. To date, they have served over a million meals.

“Over the years, through testing, we have been able to better understand how to provide meals to the community,” says Khaira. “The meals are simple and basic, rice, a kind of curry, kheer (rice pudding) and tea or chai juice.”

In the beginning, he notes, there was a conflict of cultures because some receiving the meals found the food too spicy.

“These are very common dishes,” he says. “Every mom and grandma knows these menus.”

Now they are planning a big expansion with their new property; there are plans to renovate it to create a new kitchen to help serve the community every day of the week.

“The building was something that we had in mind since we started the organization,” explains Khaira. “It was a pipe dream at the time.”

Recently it has become more feasible and they have started looking for a location.

“We have a few volunteers who are trained in real estate,” he says. “We looked at a lot of buildings in the DTES, we found one in our range, well located.

“It worked perfectly.”

GNFK is not yet fully open; as long as they have taken possession of the building, it is not up to par. Khaira says renovations are planned now, with hopes to open in the summer of 2022. However, there are still plenty of volunteer hours to devote. Although someone has offered to donate kitchen equipment, they need to look into it. to see if that will work in space, and the building basically needs to be gutted.

“We always fundraise and are always looking for volunteers who want to be a part of it,” Khaira said. “We are not specifically asking for Sikh people.”

He notes that although the background of the organization is based on Sikhism, it is not a religious organization, but an autonomous charitable organization. context, it is open to all communities.

In the future, there will also be more transformations for the organization. This includes looking at what more they can offer the community now that they have a building (including considering food storage, housing and community space). Remaining a volunteer-based organization is also important to them, but new paid positions will be added to make sure things are running smoothly.

Those interested in volunteering or donating can contact GNFK through their website.