St. Luke's fire a 'crisis' for services for city's vulnerable people

A fire Tuesday morning at a Chinatown church where some of the city's most vulnerable people congregate has left those in charge scrambling to find a new home for its services.

"These are early hours in a very significant crisis," said Peter John Hobbs, director general of community ministries with the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.

Hobbs, speaking to CBC Radio's All in a Day just hours after the thefire at St. Luke's Anglican Church was extinguished, said he found two details especially poignant.

First, thatcongregantshad planned to gather this comingSunday to mark the 100th anniversary of the building and the 150th anniversary of the parish itself, Hobbs said.

"You can imagine that this is a significant loss for a community that has gathered in that sacred space," he said.

Second, that the fire would impact thosewho frequent the community drop-in centre, St. Luke's Table.

Hundreds of meals handed out weekly

St. Luke's Tableprovided drop-in services five days a weekand has been operating for nearly 40 years.

The program serves people experiencing poverty and illness. Hobbs said the site servesbetween 80 to 120 breakfasts five days a week, and just as many lunches. Ithosts counselling and crisis-intervention programs.

People were gathering for breakfast and morning programming on Tuesdaywhen the fire alarm began to sound, Hobbs said.

The fire department said the fire started in an organ on the first floor andwas largely under control by 9:40 a.m. Nobody was trapped or injured.

"There's a significant amount of damage upstairs and quite a bit of water damage in the basement," he said.

For now, St. Luke's Table is closed, but Hobbs said the team still hopes to find other ways to carry on with programming.

"In the meantime, we will continue to deliver services," he said. "We won't be able to use the space that we use, but St. Luke's Table is part of a greater network of community ministries operated by our diocese."

Hobbs said a number of those services could be run out of those sister agencies.