In partnership with The Sharing Place Food Centre, The Lighthouse Soup Kitchen and Shelter’s Meat the Needs Fundraiser began just before Christmas to encourage community members to donate meat products or perishable goods to the donation freezer and cart at Foodland and Jason’s No Frills.
The fundraiser was created as a way to help The Sharing Place with their community meal program which has grown from 14 users to up to 50 during the pandemic.
“When a small organization goes from serving 14 people every day to 40 or 50, it’s a big difference,” said Trish Holloway, operations manager for the Lighthouse.
“Having the support of our community partners and our generous community makes this bigger work that much easier.”
The community meal program has served more than 30,000 meals and bagged lunches to community members in need since last March, creating a dire need for food donations.
“I think in order for us to maintain these meals we need this fundraiser to be successful. We are used to serving 14 people in our shelter, and now on average there are 40-50 people every night,” Holloway explained.
“We also recently just opened a women’s shelter, so without the support of the community it would be difficult.”
The Lighthouse is also experiencing extra challenges with a lack of volunteers and a lack of ways for people to support their efforts.
“Because of COVID we have very limited volunteers and limited ways for people to help,” Holloway said.
“It would make a big difference if people can pick up a package of meat that maybe is on sale this week, or maybe people can designate a larger portion of their means and can buy and donate a couple of roasts," suggested Holloway.
"It’s an opportunity to get something for the vulnerable people in our community to show them that we are thinking about them and we want to help.”
The Meat the Needs fundraiser was also designed to be a safe way to help The Lighthouse amid the pandemic.
“We made this program because of all the COVID restrictions. This is the safest way to donate as the products are donated in the freezer and then The Sharing Place uses their refrigerated food truck to pick it up, so this is the ultimate way to donate products as it follows all the proper procedures set out by the health unit,” Holloway explains.
So far, the fundraiser has been a success as The Lighthouse has been able to meet the demand for their users.
Holloway encourages community members to continue to help fill the freezers and carts at the participating grocery stores, as well as make monetary donations online.
“It’s going pretty well, our needs are being met," she said. "When we need to create something with ground beef, we go to The Sharing Place and request it, and if they don’t have it, we go get it with our funds, and that is why the monetary donations that are coming in are so important.”
Holloway and The Lighthouse are thrilled with the successful partnership with The Sharing Place.
“It’s so awesome because when they need someone who is in need of shelter or needs some community supports that we offer, they call us, and when we need some supports with food, we call them,” she said.
Holloway and The Lighthouse are also thankful for the support of the community during these challenging times.
“The community is used to being hands-on, being in the building, serving and volunteering, but with these initiatives, they are definitely being very generous, not so much with their time but more with their donations, which is helping directly,” Holloway said.
