F. First United Church Offices

Category: Sites from the 'Labour, Work and Working People' booklet

The First United Church opened a food distribution centre on this site to feed the hungry during the Great Depression. In the winter of 1931, the church fed 800-1200 men daily. The church opened a soup kitchen for longshoremen during their prolonged strike in 1935. It also supplied food and clothing to the sit-down strikers who occupied the old post office in 1938. Tens of thousands received material assistance, counseling, and work opportunities from this site in the 1930s. The economic recession of the late 1980s created a new generation of hungry and the church reopened its soup kitchen. Some survivors of the Depression joined others waiting in line when the Grace United Church at 803 East 16th Avenue began operating Vancouver's first food bank in 1982. Intended as a temporary measure, many Vancouver citizens continue to rely on the food bank.