WATCH: A soup kitchen that has been serving more than a hundred people in a week in Surrey says it’s been shut down by the city over Thanksgiving. Rumina Daya reports.
Operators of a Surrey soup kitchen say the city tried to shut them down just before Thanksgiving dinner.
The pop-up soup kitchen has been operating since February and was preparing a Thanksgiving meal for more than a hundred people Saturday.
They were just about to set up on the edge of the Legion’s parking lot in Whalley to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless, but they say city of Surrey bylaw officers told them they would have to move.
The volunteers moved their tables a few meters over from the Legion’s parking lot onto some vacant land and went ahead with the meal.
The city says the operation had triggered a number of complaints and they needed to move because they were on private property.
The Legion says it supports the group’s work, but they are tired of the aftermath.
A spokesperson told Global News, “The problem has been getting worse and worse. The people are aggressive. They’re defecating at the front door. There are needles and so much garbage.”
The organizers claim they were told not to come back again, but the city says they’re welcome to continue their “valuable” work at that location.
WATCH: Soup kitchen organizer Erin Schulte says city bylaw officers showed up before she was about to serve turkey dinner to dozens of homeless people on Thanksgiving.
With files from Rumina Daya
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