Social entrepreneur Mark Brand to speak at 2018 Mission Services fall banquet

It’s bound to be an enlightening evening at the London Convention Centre.

The 2018 Mission Services fall banquet and silent auction gets underway at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and will feature social entrepreneur Mark Brand.

“When I was a teenager I experienced being temporarily unhoused, as many kids do just by acting out or having an unbalanced home life,” said Brand. “I experienced the latter and found myself outside a bunch.”

Brand said he snuck into homes to find a place to “put his head,” but after a while, even those were hard to find.

“[Then] you [have] to face the cold hard reality of what is going on.”

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“Lucky for me it was only temporary and I did find myself back indoors,” he said.

Brand said the trauma of being homeless lives on.

“My core mandate is: There’s no us and them, there’s only us.”

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Now, Brand does what he can to help others. Five years ago he took over Save on Meats, a Vancouver-based butcher and diner, and created The Token Program.

“My team and I created a poker chip. On one side it says the name of my business. On the other side, it says “sandwich.”

“The ‘tokens’ are carried by cops and outreach workers and can also be bought at the diner by regular folk. If someone in need says they’re hungry, they’re given one of the tokens which will get them one of five sandwiches, including a vegetarian and gluten-free option,” Brand said.

“They can walk into my diner any time of the day or night. Just because you’re unhoused doesn’t mean you don’t have dietary restrictions.”

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2:14 Resident of controversial Vernon homeless camp speaks out

Brand says his passion for helping others comes from the idea that homelessness can happen to anyone.

“If we don’t have a critical person or people in our life that can stand up and look after us and help us get to where we need to be, then the options are very limited,” he said.

“It very well could be me, it very well could be a lot of other people, and it is a bunch of people who I do know and call friends.”

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According to officials, the highlight of this year’s event is Men’s Mission, a branch of the charity that provides safe, emergency shelter for men experiencing homelessness.

All proceeds from the event will support important client needs at Men’s Mission.

The banquet runs until 10 p.m.