The Fitzroy Soup Van has blessed inner Melbourne city life for 40 years. Initially the project of student volunteers who won the support of the St Vincent de Paul Society, it has expanded to five vans with over 600 volunteers on the Fitzroy list.
Every Evening without Fail by Anne Tuohey tells the story of the Soup Van and the changing contexts in which it provides food for hungry people. It also stirs reflection on how recent developments in society and in religious groups with similar forms of outreach have affected the people whom they serve.
The van began as a student initiative. It was basic: the food was predictable and cold, and the van was ramshackle — because the back doors could not be locked the contents were likely to fall on the street. The volunteers were fearless, going into boarding houses, through parks, under bridges and everywhere homeless people were to be found. Health and safety protocols were minimal.
The van was also centred in the Catholic Church. Although its volunteers came from many religions and none, with no questions asked, most of the leading spirits had been students at Catholic schools and often involved in church youth groups. The van itself responded to the decision of the Missionaries of Charity to move their accommodation for homeless men from Fitzroy to semi-rural Greenvale. Young volunteers who had helped out in Fitzroy recognised the effect this would have on homeless people. The van was to address their needs.
It was also natural for the van to find support from the Vinnies, the Catholic organisation most involved with homeless people. Within a short period the Ozanam House Kitchens became available for preparing food. Initially, too, some groups working on the Van would begin the evening with a prayer. The Vinnies ethos inevitably influenced the character of the van, and particularly the conviction that the Vannies' mission was primarily to engage respectfully and warmly with the people whom they served.
Over 40 years the scope, organisation and service offered by the soup van has grown. But it continues to be local: volunteers identify less with the Vinnies than with the van, and less with the van than with their night on it.
The contexts of the van's work have changed greatly. The Catholic Church is now much more thinly spread in the area that the van serves. As in other churches local congregations and their leadership are