Love your neighbour

On the nighttime streets of Vancouver, Ellen Shonsta gives a whole new meaning to meals on wheels. Every day, seven days a week, she packs a little trailer with hot food, hitches it to her electric scooter and rolls through the West End neighbourhood feeding the hungry. "It's so wonderful to be able to give," says Ellen, as she prepares chili for the evening.

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Across the country, thousands of Canadians are contributing their time, energy and compassion to making the lives of those less fortunate a bit better. They're shuttling seniors to medical appointments each week, collecting food for the needy, serving in soup kitchens, babysitting in shelters or tutoring new immigrants -- finding ways to help. Their kindness and commitment come from a deep sense of wanting to give something back to their community, to make a difference in someone's life. But anyone who volunteers discovers something else, something surprising. As the saying goes, "It's better to give than to receive."

Ellen sees her rewards in the faces of the people she feeds every night in Vancouver. She wheels through a densely populated neighbourhood that lies between the city's downtown core and Stanley Park, serving clients ranging in age from 11 to 80. With the help of two or three other volunteers, she hands out hot meals -- chili, pasta and stews -- along with salads, dessert and coffee.

Vitamins, socks and underwear are also distributed to the street people who gather for her meals and her affection. "The most important things I give out are hugs," she says with a laugh. "And I get a lot of hugs and smiles back."

She feeds between 400 and 600 people each night, starting at 7 p.m. and returning home early in the morning. "I can't rest," says Ellen, 60, who is disabled with degenerative arthritis. "I worry about the kids out there."

A sense of worth
Many of those she feeds are looking for a quick conversation or simply some kind of acknowledgment. Don't have a loonie for the homeless man on the corner? Give him a smile instead, says Ellen. "They want to feel they exist."

Cash donations from sympathetic donors she meets along her route help cover the bills; volunteers, including a former recipient and, sometimes, her grandchildren, help with the preparations and delivery. Her tireless work has earned Ellen the nickname Mom on the streets.

It's about making connections, she insists. It's about investing a bit of your life in someone else's and enjoying the returns. "When you make a connection with someone who has no one, it changes his life because he realizes he's worthy," says Ellen. "And this changes your life because you've changed his."

Volunteering has lasting benefits: you improve someone's life, contribute to your community and, as a bonus, enhance your own life. Talk to a volunteer and she'll tell you about the good feeling she gets from being needed and useful. Walk into a food bank where volunteers are sorting cans or a church basement where meals are being served to the homeless and there's a happy buzz in the air. It's rewarding to act selflessly and it's never too late or too early to start.