Ministry looking to 'heal hearts and warm hearts' with community cookbook

A local "house church" known for sharing its kitchen table is inviting others to help them continue to put food on the table of Winnipeg homes.

The Welcome Home, established in 1993 at 188 Euclid Avenue in the North Point Douglas neighbourhood has been a community spot for decades.

"We are here to do something that is really in line with the mission of the Church, that Pope Francis describes very well, is to heal hearts and warm hearts," Larry Kondra, a chaplain at The Welcome Home says.

Food has always been a part of the ministry, whether it is with hampers or shared meals.

"They always went hand-in-hand. The food brings people out," Community Сoordinator Delores Courchene says.

Kondra says it is a "moment of community" when people share a meal. While not all visitors still live in the area, Kondra says many people return to the house. 

"Food has a way of being shared that kind of harmonizes relationships and brings people in a way of being at peace with each other. It has been effective that way and people love to enjoy each other's company," Kondra says.

At the end of each summer, the Ukrainian Catholic ministry usually sets up their barbeque at a nearby church, with well over 100 familiar faces joining them.

While they are not able to do the same kind of ministry, The Welcome Home continues to put food on the table with their food bank. A community cookbook, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, is being sold to help raise funds for the food bank.

The funds from the community cookbook will be used to stock up The Welcome Home's foodbank. (Supplied)

"There are over 280 recipes in this book from all over the community. We have people from all over the community, we have MLAs, we have City Councillors, even have a recipe from Mayor Brian Bowman."

Kondra says they also have recipes from church leadership, including one of his mother's recipes. 

The book is only sold in some parts of the city, including at The Welcome Home, or several community businesses such as Newman's Market, Petals By S & A, and Galarnyk Insurance Agency.