These Hamilton residents serve up free meals to community as way to fill weekend food gap

If you go by King and James streets in downtown Hamiltonon any given Saturday, rain or shine, volunteers with the Gore Park Outreach group will be there.

Gore Park Outreach's coordinator,Jeffrey Ng, spends most of his week gathering food donations and preparing meals for Saturday afternoon. The outreach program is run entirely through donations and with the help of volunteers.

Ngsays he began feeding people at Gore Park in February,2021when shelters were limiting occupancy due to COVID-19, and he had noticed an abundance of people living in the park in the cold. The former corporate sector managersaid the first time he gave out food there was during a heavy snowfall.

The outreach program started by feeding about 35people living in the park, Ng said, but now he says his team ofvolunteers a rotation of students, doctors, social workers and others helpfeed almost 300 people every weekendfrom "all walks of life."

Local caterer startseast Hamilton outreach

Ng's group is one of several in the city out to feed neighbours in need on weekends.

Salar Mahdavi, owner of Barton Street pizza restaurant MaiPai TikiBar,said he donates full pizzas to the community fridge on Ottawa Street North every weekend.

Not everyone in his neighbourhood can afford to eat at his restaurant he says."I feel like it's kind ofan opportunity to maybe like brighten someone's day up a little bit," Mahdavi said.

Mohamed Mukhtar, owner of catering business Falafel Papi, has volunteered withGore Park Outreach and has started a newinitiative in the city's eastend, closer to where he lives.

Mukhtar began doing community food outreachover a year and a half ago, donatinghomemade soupto people living in encampments. Hethen volunteered withlocal food banks and began helping out in Gore Park.

His latest projectwas expected to start Friday night giving out free meals at theUnity Spiritual Centre at289 QueenstonRd.

"Every Friday night from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. wewill be giving out 150 free meals in the east end of Hamilton at Parkdale and Queenston," he said.

Shelter users, families, students and elderly need food support

Both Ng andMukhtarspoke of the gap for those who rely on food banks or other food services that may be open only during weekdays.

"We'll be able to bridge the gap for people on weekendsand hopefully we provide a bigger impact on people in the east endand people in our community," Mukhtarsaid.

Ng said the people that come out for a meal in Gore Park aren't just people experiencing homelessness.

"People with disabilities, familieswith kids, and now we're starting to see students from Mohawk and McMaster lining up for food," said Ng, who, alongside fellow Gore Park Outreach coordinatorBinky Yeung,was awarded theOrder of Hamilton in January for thework.

The2022 Hamilton Food Share report showsthat Hamilton has the second-highest per capita use of food banks in the province and the city's food banks have seen an increasing demand over the past year.

Hamilton Food Share's most recent hunger report says children made up 40 per cent of food bank users last year. The report also shows that almost 40 per cent of food bank users' primary source of income came from theOntario Disability Support Program.

"About 80 per cent of the people we serve falls under the category of seniors," Ngsaid.

The Hamilton Food Share Hunger report says seniors are almost twice as likely to use a food bank as people under 65-years-old.

Ng said the amount of seniors he feeds bothers him.

"I get kind of upset because you hear kind of the same story, right? You know, they're on a fixed income. By the time they pay rent or utilities, there's really not a lot left for food."