Café paves the way

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This article was published 26/04/2014 (4438 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“We all need community, a place of belonging, a place where we can celebrate and be committed to each other, a place where we learn to accept ourselves as we are and to forgive”

— Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche

 

Dorothy is bustling around clearing tables at a restaurant in Transcona.

She greets patrons and proudly tells them she received a bouquet of flowers from a relative that morning and she has plans for the evening. She wishes patrons who are finished a heartfelt farewell.

The restaurant Dorothy is working in is the L’Arche Tova Café. Dorothy, who lives with developmental disabilities, resides in one of a half-dozen homes L’Arche Winnipeg operates for adults with cognitive disabilities.

“I like cleaning the tables. I like talking to people, too,” Dorothy says after the café closes for the day.

“And I’m going out tonight.”

Jim Lapp, executive director of L’Arche Winnipeg, said it is the Dorothys in Winnipeg, in Canada, and around the world L’Arche helps to live in the community.

“We’re open to anyone,” Lapp said.

“You don’t have to be a person of faith. L’Arche began as being very Catholic, but as we grew, there were many people with disabilities with different faiths.

“L’Arche is a place of acceptance.”

L’Arche’s first home in Winnipeg opened just 10 years after founder Jean Vanier welcomed two men with developmental disabilities into a home in France in 1964.

Vanier, the son of former governor general Georges Vanier, called the home L’Arche, after Noah’s ark.

L’Arche worldwide has since grown to house people with intellectual disabilities in 135 communities in 40 countries.

L’Arche Winnipeg has grown, too, going from one house donated by the Oblate sisters in 1973 to six houses, two independent living apartments and six vans. Twenty-seven people live in the homes.

“Vanier was appalled by what he discovered when he was in France and saw the conditions people (with disabilities) were living in at institutions,” Lapp said.

“He invited the two men to come live with him and then he discovered they were helping him out. He found they had a lot to teach him.”

L’Arche Winnipeg got its first home after an Oblate sister met Vanier at a retreat in Gimli and “she said she had no power or authority to give L’Arche their house, but she felt she needed to do it,” Lapp said.

“The Mother Superior then went to the archbishop to tell him, and he agreed to give it away. It was by the grace of God.”

Lapp said the Oblate sisters then invited L’Arche to a dinner at the house.

“At the end of the dinner, the sisters picked up their suitcases and they left, leaving all of the furniture behind for us. It was a generous donation and it helped get us started.”

Dorothy was one of the earliest residents of L’Arche in Winnipeg. She came to L’Arche in 1974, after living at the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie and then in a foster home in Winnipeg.

“It’s nice at the L’Arche house. I have my own bedroom. I make my own lunch when I need it,” she said.

Lapp said one of the greatest compliments for L’Arche is most of the residents who began living with them when they opened their doors in Winnipeg are still with them four decades later.

“Our wish has always been for people with disabilities to live their lives with us,” he said.

Larry Vickar, president of Vickar Chevrolet, and his wife Tova have supported L’Arche for several years — and Tova has even contributed recipes to the café, which was named in part for her.

“I appreciate the good work L’Arche does in the community,” he said.

“And we like the café because it is a way of showcasing the wonderful attributes of the intellectually disabled. It’s a chance for the entire community to understand the benefits these people can give.”

Vickar also likes the way L’Arche will help long-time residents take vacations to faraway places, including France, the Caribbean and Disney World.

“The residents will talk for years about those trips — they want the residents to experience as much as they can.”

Vickar also praises the staff and volunteers of the organization — some of whom have been helping for decades.

“These people make the organization. It’s a higher calling.”

Nick Morier, chef and general manager of the L’Arche Tova Café, said it’s great to have residents of the L’Arche houses come and work at the restaurant.

“Most work in the front and they greet people,” Morier said.

“They bring the menus. The water. And they clear and clean the tables. They are our initial contact with our patrons.

“The experience they get, they could move on to other restaurants.”

Diane Truderung, L’Arche director of fund development and communications, said the café helps people whether or not they live at a L’Arche house.

“It’s a chance for people with intellectual disabilities to work in an environment where they don’t need to be rushed,” Truderung said.

“A person like Nick, who is back there now, can learn to work and use a grill. It’s really a great experience for them.”

Lapp said there are no plans currently to add more houses to L’Arche Winnipeg.

“This is about as big as we want to get,” he said.

“If we had more houses I wouldn’t know the people with disabilities living in them. With this many houses, I know them.

“These folks are my friends — they are not my clients.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca