Jackie Franson remembers how she felt many years ago when, hungry and unemployed, she stood in line at a Surrey, B.C., food bank.

“It was embarrassing. I felt like I was less than an inch high,” she recalls. “I can remember the feeling of utter desperation, the look on my kids' faces.”

That experience is one of the reasons why Jackie, now the manager of client and community services at The Salvation Army Harbour Light in Vancouver, was determined to spruce up the atmosphere of its food lines, which offer 10 meals a week to Downtown Eastside residents in need, including seniors and low-income families.

“I don't want these wonderful people to feel like that,” she says. “I want them to feel they're coming to a place that's theirs. It's their community. It's their place to eat.”

Since taking over 10 years ago, Jackie has made some changes. The menu has been expanded from bowls of stew to “regular food” such as veal cutlets, pasta with meat sauce and the ever-popular chicken with mashed potatoes, and she has moved the tables around so the dining hall looks more like a restaurant.
At each session, she reigns over the “organized chaos” involved in serving 450 people a warm, hearty meal in a span of 45 minutes. A week away from Thanksgiving, she's already in the midst of frantic preparations for the annual turkey dinner.

Clients call her by name—but she is also known as “Mom,” “Auntie Jackie” and “Miss J.” She gets about a dozen requests a day for hugs, which she dispenses freely.

“All they want is for someone to care about them,” she states. “That's what we're here to do: to give dignity and respect. It's a place of second chances.”

Top photo: Jackie Franson among some of the 450 patrons who enjoy a free lunch at The Salvation Army's Harbour Light

The Province, October 9, 2009. Photo: Arlen Redekop, The Province.