FALL 2024

NEWS UPDATE:
The YVR Airport and the Chapel have been busy places over the Summer and now into the Fall.  Our Chapel Team is daily involved in fulfilling its mission, to provide spiritual and emotional support for all passengers and employees, and that's what we enjoy doing most.  Below you'll see two stories written by Carol, one of our chaplains, that illustrates the things that happen here on a regular basis.  

1.  Friday mornings, we sometimes have a crew of Airport staff coming by the Chapel as part of their training, to learn who we are and what we do. Many are surprised at the fact we exist here, which we know is very common to people who are discovering the Chapel for the first time.  They are usually quite pleased to hear about the kind of help and direction that we offer to passengers, employees and even refugees from time to time. I like to tell the story of an experience I had early on in my time here, which is met with laughter and a new appreciation of the Chapel which they could not have imagined.
 
One of our beloved Chaplains, Ron Trickett, who had been serving here for a good number of years from the Salvation Army, was retiring. We had planned a little party for him and just about the time we gathered in the front room for a presentation, a young Muslim man, flying home to the Middle East, came in to see about praying. I told him about the Friday Muslim prayers that would be happening in a couple of hours. He looked at me, then looked toward the Prayer Room with some people inside and asked me, “What is a chapel?”  and “What is a Chaplain?” I explained as best I could, as he spoke only broken English, and explained what was happening in there at the moment, with some Christian passengers. And I reassured him that the Muslim prayers would still take place at 1:00 pm. 

He was so surprised! He looked at me and said “Christians pray in Chapel?” "Yes, I answered!  “Muslims pray in Chapel?” "Yes!"  A big smile came over his face and he exclaimed, “I love Canada! This would never happen in my country!” We laughed together and he asked if he could go congratulate the Chaplain. He went in among the crowd and talked with Ron and as he came out, I told him to help himself to some of the food we had out. Again, he was surprised and thankful, and loudly declared “I love Canada!” Well, he shared in the Muslim prayer time, and then continued to interact with us till he had to leave to catch his flight, around 4:00 in the afternoon. I only wish I could remember his name!


2.  Here's another story that is somewhat unusual. Oftentimes, Canadian Border Services brings refugee families who have just arrived in Canada for us to assist. But one day one of their officers directed a single man who was very distressed to the Chapel. He had come from Ontario to meet a woman who had promised to connect with him at the airport when he arrived. He had sent all his savings to her, in hopes of their settling down here together. But...  she never came for him.  Now he was desperate for help, even for food and drink, as he had been wandering the airport overnight. And he had determined that his only hope was to fly to his hometown in India to sell some property and get some money. He thought we could loan him $1000.00 to buy a ticket and he would leave some things for us as collateral until he paid us back.

Of course, we could not do that, but we could give him a sandwich and some coffee, while I asked some more questions to determine how best to help him. Finally, I suggested the best thing he could do was speak to the police about possible fraudulent activity happening. After a while he agreed and I phoned the RCMP who came and brought an interpreter with them. After about an hour or more, he agreed to go with them to their office where a Sikh fellow would come and help him with a place to stay. Before he left, he came to say thank you to me and bowed down to just touch my knees, as an act of honour. I have never heard of such a thing; he showed his appreciation in such a tender way.... very touching and memorable!

OK, thanks for reading our stories.  More to come later in the Fall!
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​Dennis Kirkley & Mark Anderson
Lead Chaplains
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