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Lionhearts ministry provides service that helps many
when travis Blackmore surrendered his life to Christ, he had no idea he would end up behind a Costco building staring down 800 pounds of strawberries.
His career as a rock musician had come to an abrupt halt in 2012 due to his alcohol abuse and lukewarm faith. Faced with crushed dreams and damaged relationships, he genuinely committed to following God for the first time in his life.
Blackmore quickly felt compelled to provide food, clothing and friendship to the marginalized people in his hometown of Kingston, Ont. Collecting strawberries at Costco was just the beginning. Today he is the CEO of Lionhearts Inc., a charity that collects, sorts and delivers food and clothing donated by large businesses to support organizations that care for marginalized people.
“In the early days our cars looked like clown cars, packed to the ceiling,” he says. “If you opened the doors and weren’t careful, a whole case of clementines would spill out.” Now, Lionhearts has two delivery trucks. They provide dairy, produce and meat to over 30 ministries in Kingston and 14 in Ottawa.
Lionhearts has partnerships with large businesses such as Starbucks, Little Caesar’s and Cobs Bread. These businesses have such a high bar for consistency and quality that perfectly good food can get discarded – sometimes simply because the packaging has been damaged in transit.
“It’s cheaper to throw it away than to find someone who is committed to picking it up every day,” says Blackmore. Instead, Lionhearts takes what isn’t sellable for a company and puts it to good use. They are also committed to zero garbage waste. They recycle all cardboard and plastic, and give any food that isn’t consumable for humans to local pig farmers.
In 2019 alone they redirected $2.3 million worth of food and clothing to relief agencies. For the organizations they reinforce, it is a huge relief to not have to worry about where their next source of food is coming from. It also allows them to shift their budget to other needs. For example, one of the men’s shelters in Kingston expanded from six beds to 16 with their liberated resources.
Most of their work happens behind the scenes, holding up the backs of ministries on the front lines. However, that changed dramatically when Covid-19 forced many of the ministries they support to close down. To fill the gap they leveraged their food sources and delivery network to create Lionhearts Meals To-Go. Since March they have handed out thousands of meals each week at locations in Kingston, Amherstview and Napanee.
Lionhearts continues to grow, now with hundreds of volunteers. In the future, Blackmore hopes to expand their sustainable model for reducing waste and supporting existing organizations across Canada and beyond.