An Olympic Story: The Linwood House on the Sunshine Coast

The 2010 Winter olympic in Vancouver is just around the corner. I had the pleasure of passing through Vancover last month and have a beautiful story to tell you that I hope will warm your heart and challenge you to active compassion as it did me.

I volunteer with Hungry for Life and through that I was blessed to retreat with the other staff and volunteers to a beautiful home off the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, The Linwood House. The home is usually not a retreat place or a bed and breakfast but a home that hosts women of the east side of Vancouver to come and be lavishly loved. Generations of prostitutes and the underprivileged live on the east side of downtown Vancouver. Gwen, the owner of the Linwood Home, devoted her life to helping and caring for these women. She brings them into her home and from the moment they walk in she cares deeply for them in every way. From great food to a luxury bubble bath, no detail is ignored. Women who have spent much of their life on the streets have not experienced unconditional love. A motto that Gwen lives by, "Beauty draws the heart to hope," is exemplified through every detail in the home. They eat on the finest china, and enjoy some of the best flavors of Canadian cuisine. But the owners and volunteers don't stop with serving these women, they commit to journeying with them in their life and struggles. Many women's lives have changed inspiring hope for their future.

This Winter Olympics, many of the women helped by the Linwood home have become Olympic hosts. They will be in charge of keeping the streets of their neighborhood safe for the guests of Vancover and providing directions to tourists. Gwen and other volunteers taught many of them to become welcomers for the Olympics giving them a chance to receive a gold medal of their own at the end of the two weeks. Read more about the radical hostesses of the Olympics here.

When we visited we asked what we cold do to help Gwen with her Olympic dream for the east side women and she said we could send gifts for the women. She specifically said that they really loved getting teddy bears. So, some friends and I are collecting teddy bears to send to Canada.

While we stayed at the Linewood Home we enjoyed the delicious food and hospitality provided daily. They were gracious enough to give me a few of their favorite recipes. I will be posting them throughout the Olympics. I hope they feed your soul as they did mine.

To donate money to the Linwood Home click here.

Rainbow Rice
recipe from the Linwood Home
prepare in rice cooker
makes enough rice to feed a crowd

INGREDIENTS
rice
chicken stock
olive oil
chopped onion
2+ cloves of garlic
cinnamon sticks
1-2 bay leaves
bell peppers 1/2 to 1 cup
parsley

DIRECTIONS
The rice needs to be thoroughly rinsed. For every ¾ cup of rice you will need 1 & 1/4 cup of liquid. Heat in rice cooker a bit of olive oil & butter, enough to cover bottom. Add 2 to 3 Tbsp chopped onion and 2+ cloves of minced garlic. Heat/cook until it goes back to warming. Add rinsed rice, stir to coat rice, heat/cook till returns to warming. Add liquid (chicken stock) 2 sticks of cinnamon broken and 1 to 2 bay leaves. Heat/cook. If sock is not too salty you may need to add salt or you can add powdered chicken stock to increase flavor. While rice is cooking chop finely red pepper and parsley (1/2 to 1 cup depending on amount of rice.) When rice is cooked remove cinnamon sticks and bay leaves and add parsley and peppers, mixing well. Let sit for 20 minutes or longer.

Notes from the chef: "I am usually making this for 20+ people so I use 1 cup of parsley and usually 1 to 1&1/2 peppers, yellow and orange are good as well as red. You could also do it on the stove in a pot with a tight fitting lid."