The Companions are a volunteer group which carries out the charitable work of Catholic religious order and charity Order of Malta in Great Britain. One of its aims is to help the poor and the suffering.
The Companions Café, supported by the Lord Mayor, can host more than 80 diners.
Cllr Robert Rigby told The Tablet: “It is amazing to think that for the past decade this restaurant underneath a Westminster church has been running a unique restaurant for people who desperately need the help. Well done to the Order of Malta and its Westminster volunteers for an inspirational project.”
Although the Café opens at 6pm, a long queue has already formed outside by 3.30pm. Companions Café London coordinator Kate MacKenzie, a former matron at a London hospital, gives a pep talk to over 30 volunteers.
Their duties include working in the kitchen, welcoming guests and providing donations of clothes and toiletries.
Entertainment includes Kate MacKenzie playing Debussy, Abba and Sinatra at the baby grand piano. MacKenzie, London Coordinator for the Companions of the Order of Malta, explained how the Café’s approach is about building relationships and serving the homeless. She told The Tablet: “I see our job as providing dignity and companionship over dinner.
“Our approach is the people who come in here are our guests – they sit at tables with tablecloths, proper cutlery and glasses and are waited on. We know them on first name terms. They sit with their friends and for the two hours with us they can talk, listen to music and catch up with friends.”
Rigby added that the purpose of the Companions Café is to give “dignity” to homeless people in Westminster.
He said: “We know
that across Westminster there are amazing groups of volunteers helping
our communities, and the Companions Café is a great example of that –
giving dinner, dignity, and the chance to be treated as guests.”