Demand at Falls soup kitchen soars to record levels
The number of people walking through the doors of Niagara Falls Community Outreach’s soup kitchen soared to record levels in the last year, with no sign of demand for the free lunches and dinners waning.
The well-oiled machine that operates with just one paid staff member — kitchen manager Holly Voice — was already serving up about 43,000 meals a year by 2018, but in 2019 demand soared by 15,000 meals, to 57,500 meals, said outreach chair Chris Watling.
That’s a whopping increase of about 33 per cent in a single year, and happened in tandem with soaring demand at food banks operating in Niagara, such as at Project Share.
That increase came despite a new policy at the food bank on St. Lawrence Avenue to stop serving seconds to people who asked for it.
“We had to,” said Watling. “The numbers were getting so high.”
Ending the serving of seconds was also due to logistics: only so many people can sit and eat at the soup kitchen at a time, meaning lineups can occur outside the former church.
The soup kitchen serves up free lunches on weekdays year-round, with free dinners served seven days a week all winter. It’s not uncommon to see 140 or 150 people turning up for dinner and 120 people arriving for lunch.
The agency set a record last Thanksgiving Monday at lunch, with 189 guests. Watling said 200 pounds of donated turkeys were sent to the Scotiabank Convention Centre where chefs cooked, chilled and sent it all back to the soup kitchen to be reheated.
Watling’s two sons-in-law spent five hours carving the turkeys, and some of the agency’s army of 300 volunteers watched nervously on that Monday to see if the turkey would
PAUL FORSYTH
meet demand. It was just enough, said Watling.
The soup kitchen is famously efficient, serving balanced, healthy meals at a cost of just $3.75 apiece. But the NFCO, which receives no government funding, must still fundraise about $160,000 a year.
Watling said the agency is holding its own despite soaring demand thanks to the deep community connections it has with the casinos that donate food and volunteer, local businesses, churches, social clubs and prominent families.
Even Niagara Training and Employment Agency helps out, sending vans full of its clients to the soup kitchen property to cut the grass and do landscaping, in a new partnership.
At a recent soup kitchen lunch, Peter and Diane Gardener enjoyed a meal of pizza, soup, shepherd’s pie, grapes and salad. The couple met at the soup kitchen and ended up getting married two years ago.
Diane — who used to volunteer at an Out of the Cold overnight shelter in the city and at Project Share, as well as help teach immigrants sewing and healthy cooking — said the soup kitchen meals are important to her because she has a rare, slow-progressing form of cancer that makes cooking difficult for her.
But cost is also factor, she admits.
“We come for the healthy meals,” she said. “If you’re poor, most of the time you can’t afford the healthy (food) choices, so you buy junk food instead.”
Remington’s of Niagara steak and seafood restaurant is hosting its sixth annual community outreach fundraising dinner for NFCO at the restaurant at 5657 Victoria Ave. on March 25. Tickets to the four-course dinner are $150 with a $75 tax receipt. All proceeds go to the soup kitchen.