In the early hours of March 6, Angeline de Bruyns and her classmates – second-year medical students from UBC’s Island Medical Program – arrived at Our Place Society, an inner-city community centre serving Victoria’s vulnerable populations.
At 7:00am, they began dishing out French toast, bacon, and bowls of fresh fruit. When breakfast ended, only an hour later, de Bruyns and her classmates had served over 400 plates to the homeless, the impoverished, and the substance-addicted.
Two days later, another handful of IMP students served 330 more meals.
“I’m so happy our class had this experience, that we got to connect, at a deeper level, with people less fortunate than ourselves,” said de Bruyns, who helped coordinate the two mornings. “It brought joy to my heart to hear how much our help was appreciated, to see how much of a difference our contribution made.”
Giving back has become a tradition for the IMP’s second-year class. Since 2007, they’ve organized a fundraising campaign to coincide with the annual welcome event, held in January, for first-year students.
The fundraiser began as a talent show. Then it morphed into a silent auction. And the money raised? It was initially used to help offset costs for rural family practice rotations. Now, students donate a portion of those funds to a local charity.
This year, IMP students raised and donated $1000, enough to sponsor two breakfasts at Our Place.
The donation is generous, said Tracy Campbell, community relations coordinator for Our Place. But she believes serving the breakfasts, actually engaging with the less privileged face-to-face, is also important – particularly for future physicians.
“It’s an opportunity to meet these people, to better understand them and the struggles they face,” said Campbell. “Because the people who use our services are many of the same people these students will one day serve as doctors.”
“It was truly eye-opening,” said de Bruyns. “It was an honor to get involved, to give back, and to help others. After all, that’s what being a doctor all is about.”