Those simple meals marked the beginning of the Saskatoon Friendship Inn, an iconic local institution that provides food and friendship to people in our community 365 days a year.

No one is turned away from the Friendship Inn, which currently serves up to 1,000 meals a day to children, youth, adults and seniors in need. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the organization held a community barbecue, street fair and open house in September at its long-standing location at 619 20th St. West.

“I think it’s a significant milestone for the Friendship Inn and for the community, and it just marks our purpose and our contribution to the community for all these years,” said executive director Sandra Kary.

“We’ve been in the same location for the 50 years. We’ve gone through a few renovations and a few changes, but it’s become a place that people know where to come when they’re in need — and they can help others to find their way here, as well, if they need something, too.”

The Friendship Inn got its start during challenging economic times in the 1960s. Noticing an alarming number of unemployed people who were seeking food and funds, the city’s clergy, through the Inner City Council of Churches, came together to find a solution.

Through the vision of Saskatoon businessperson James P. (Jack) Leier, the leadership of Rev. Bernard Dunn, the financial support of the Our Lady of the Prairies Foundation and a building provided by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, the Friendship Inn was born.

“Interestingly, for the first while, they had just a skeleton staff of cooks and managers — but they had volunteers, right from day one, come and serve the meals every day of the year,” said Kary.

“There were about 52 different churches in the city that each signed up to take a particular calendar week as volunteers, and that’s how they actually supported the Inn with volunteers — and they did that for 15 years.”

In its first year, the Friendship Inn served an average of 100 meals per day. The founders and first leaders believed that treating each individual in need with dignity and compassion meant all of the organization’s services should be offered for free, without any qualifying conditions. The no-questions-asked policy remains in place today.

During the past five decades the need for meals has increased in the growing city of Saskatoon, with the Friendship Inn now serving about 1,000 meals daily. As Kary notes, the need is now tenfold from what it was during the Inn’s start 50 years ago.

“The need has definitely grown, and the community has always kept pace and stepped up and really supported the Friendship Inn,” she said.

The Friendship Inn’s founder, the late Jack Leier, was known as a successful businessperson in Saskatoon. However, he had experienced three major business failures in his life and knew what it was like to be hungry.

At one point, while experiencing a hard time, Leier was ridiculed and laughed at by a person he approached for help. Leier vowed that if he could assist anyone in the future, he would do so with dignity and respect. Ten years later, the same person who had ridiculed Leier approached him for a job. Leier, wanting to live by his principles, provided help.

“He wanted to make sure that whoever was in need was treated with dignity and respect,” said Kary. “And so that’s why he was very intent on calling it the Friendship Inn, because he felt that (friendship) was a really important component.”

By the early 1980s, the Inn was supplying meals as well as food hampers, and resources were stretching thin. Michael Hayden, the board director at the time, served as a key member of a community task force to explore a food bank, and by 1984 the Inn had supplied $10,000 in seed money to help establish the Saskatoon Food Bank.

Guests of the Friendship Inn have benefited from many key partnerships over the years; for example, the CWL Clothing Depot has worked with the Inn since the beginning. The United Way, the City of Saskatoon and the Ministry of Social Services were also early supporters. Saskatoon’s school boards, the business community, private organizations, community groups and many individuals have donated time and money over the years to keep the welcoming doors of the Inn open to people in need.

The Friendship Inn started with one employee and now has grown to a team of 20 staff members. In addition to providing hot, nutritious meals, the organization also has a social worker on staff and offers programming, such as parenting classes. The Friendship Inn is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. It serves between 100 and 350 meals at breakfast and between 400 and 700 meals for lunch, and provides a warm-up location for people during Saskatoon’s cold winter months.

“It’s a busy place — lots of activities,” said Kary. Kary, who has served as the executive director of the Friendship Inn for a year, is enjoying her new job.

“It’s just a really great team here that we’re working with, and there’s just so much community support. There’s so much goodwill,” she said.

“For sure there are times that are challenging, but we all pull together. Everyone here is doing their work with a big heart and for the right reasons. That just makes coming to work a good thing and an easy thing to do, in some respects.”

-Shannon Boklaschuk