The center’s director, Ramon Herrera, has his hands not only in prayer, but in virtually every aspect of the center’s operations. And there are many.

In addition to providing a hot meal every day, the Open Door also offers hot showers, laundry, hair cuts, free glasses, housing placement and dependency workshops.

“My main mission is to try to restore them,” says Herrera.

Located on the corner of De Maisonneuve and Wood, the center is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day—but this is more of a guideline than a strict schedule. Herrera says he has no problem with getting someone some food even if they show up at 2 p.m. as he’s locking up.

“This is open until it closes” he says.

Open to all, the center caters to the needy, homeless or not, as well as international refugees.

Herrera himself hails from Venezuela. He arrived in Canada five years ago where he worked for four years as a lay pastor in Ontario before coming to Montreal.

The Open Door has been around since 1988, when it was started by a member of St. Stephen’s congregation who noticed the need for such a service. Since then, it has moved a couple of times, finally settling in its current location.

In some ways, the center works like a co-op, with several of those who use the services also working as volunteers. Mervyn Jack, whom Herrera refers to as his ‘right hand man,’ is perhaps the best example. While making use of services like the clothes depot, Jack is also the head cook at the center, preparing all the meals himself as well as overseeing the food budget of $50,000.

“I want the guys to feel good for themselves,” says the 50-year-old Jack who, on any given day, will prepare anything from home-made chicken soup to shepherd’s pie to lasagna. On a few occasions, Jack has even prepared caribou – an acknowledgement of the several Inuit visitors the center receives.

Herrera estimates that from June, when he started working for the center, to December, approximately 14, 000 meals have been handed out. To ensure everybody gets fed, Herrera asks his visitors to sign a guest list so he can have a rough idea of how many meals to

prepare

“What I don’t like is to run out of food,” he says.

The food served at Open Door certainly has its fans. Many come back for seconds, according to Herrera and, in some cases, thirds, fourths, and fifths.

While some come for the food, others stick around for the sense of acceptance the center offers. Albert Lord, 49, is a regular of the center. While he currently has an apartment of his own, he has spent a good part of his life on Montreal’s streets.

“I like socializing with homeless people because I used to be homeless,” says Lord. “Sometimes I think of going back on the street …there’s more life.”

Lord says the cycle of poverty is hard to break out of. Discrimination, he says, is rampant, especially against persons suffering from mental illness, such as him.

Finding and maintaining work can be next to impossible.

“The minute they found out I had a

mental illness, I wasn’t an intelligent person anymore … They have more respect for criminals,” he says.

For a man who describes himself as having fought ‘the system’ since he was 17 years old, however, Lord is remarkably positive about the Open Door. The center, he says, has benefited from the hands-on approach of Herrera.

Asked what brought him to Canada from Venezuela, Herrera gestures those hands upwards.

“We came to take care of His children,” he says. “These are his children.”