AN EASTER FEAST
The Good Shepherd Centre has been providing thousands with hot meals since the 1960s,
In the quiet moments before hundreds of guests began passing through the Good Shepherd Centre for their Easter dinner, a friendly bunny hopped between tables.
Her white ears wiggling and pink nose twitching, Maria Cappadocia looked the part of the holiday hare, all the way down to her little lamb slippers.
“I just want to make it more fun by getting dressed up and being more animated,” she said. “If you dress the part, you feel happier.”
For the past 16 years, Cappadocia has been doing just that. Every holiday, she greets the city’s homeless and down-on-their-luck residents as they enter the centre and sit down to a hot meal.
Beyond the bunny getup, she has a closet full of homemade costumes fit for every occasion including a nutcracker, an elf and even a turkey.
“It’s about helping others and not being selfish,” she said, before adding that she’s gotten something out of the deal too — one Easter, while volunteering, she met the man who would later become her husband.
But it’s people like Cliff who really benefit from the feast. He’s been coming to the Good Shepherd for the past 10 years; be- tween bites, he explained why it’s special.
“The volunteers are all amazing,” he said, adding that the food is, too. “I love this. Usually you come for seconds, but by the time I’m done with this I don’t think my stomach will be able to take any more.”
The Good Shepherd Centre, just a little ways down from the corner of Queen St. E. and Parliament St., has been feeding Toronto’s needy since the 1960s. Over the course of a regular day, their team of more than 50 volunteers will feed 1,100 people; on Sunday, they served that many in just two hours.
“Our whole motto or mission is to provide services in a very human and dignified manner,” said Adrienne Urquhart, the centre’s director of fundraising.
“On a holiday everybody is usually with family or friends and a lot of our folks don’t have that, so we’re trying to give them a celebration on these special days so they feel wanted.”
Feeling wanted is important for volunteers, too. Rozanne Finkelstein has been helping out at the centre during holidays for the past 15 years and feeling welcome is a big reason she keeps coming back.
“I was nervous about coming in here the first time because I didn’t know what to expect,” she said, but once she was through the door that all changed.
“I just felt like I was at home,” she said. “I feel like I’m a Jewish Catholic once a year and I love it.”
It takes about two weeks to prepare the food for a holiday meal and only two hours for it all to be eaten up, but Urquhart said Toronto’s hungry can count on the Good Shepherd to keep feeding its flock.
“Everybody should be thankful for what they have and at a time like this where people are celebrating their faith we should have faith in each other.”