Street Mom

Mirabilis references an article about Ellen Shonsta, known to Vancouver’s homeless as “Mom”. The Vancouver Sun article is registration only, but here’s a chunk:

At 7 p.m. each night, Shonsta and 10 volunteers pack up sandwiches, stew, Chinese food, hot tea, Kool-Aid, water, cookies, doughnuts, licorice and vitamins, and head out into the night to feed the hungry and the destitute.

Shonsta cruises in her motorized wheelchair along Davie, Denman, Robson and Granville Streets, bags of sandwiches dangling from the arms of the wheelchair. Her helpers pull the remaining food and drinks in a trailer attached to a mechanized scooter.

I believe she keeps her scooter in the mini-storage building across the street from my apartment. I frequently see her and some volunteers loading up for the evening, and am awed by their commitment and selflessness.

Mirabilis points to two other articles which are accessable online. One from the Vancouver Courier, and another from UBC’s newspaper.