shrine to friends who died during their time at the Drop-In Centre has been set up in Debbie Newman's office. (CBC)

"In his will, (he) designated an amount of money that would go towards a meal — once a year — for all the people who stay here," says Newman. "So every year we create a stew in his name. We call it rainbow stew."

Each year, at the Calgary shelter, about 70 people who are part of the community, die. Their average age is about 52 years old. It's a loss for their community, and for the staff.

"It's like working in a cancer ward," says Newman. "You know death is inevitable. How do you deal with those personal relationships you end up forming? Yet you don't want to becomein a "potter's field" — an area of unmarked graves in the local cemetery. The name itself comes from the Gospel of Matthew and a reference to a public field where "foreigners" and outcasts were buried.

You can find a historical potter's field in Calgary's Union Cemetery. Between sections R and X, in an area of short mown grass surrounded by trees. There are no markers and most people buried here were "unknown."

The first burial was in 1904, the last in 1922. A final stop for our city's destitute and abandoned.

Today things are different.

The Calgary's Union Cemetery is home to what was known as the "potter's field." (CBC)

If a person dies unclaimed in our city, the public trustee checks to see if they have any money in their accounts