The Nook in Halifax donates more than 3,000 meals to local organizations

Halifax café The Nook donated over 3200 meals to community partners last week.

Monday saw school closures across Nova Scotia and because of that, Upward Kitchen had extra meals to give.

“Because we produce four-to-five thousand meals a day, with those extra four-to-five thousand meals particularly for the school lunch program that didn’t have a home, we started last year finding community fridges,” “This week we had a snow day,” said founder Mark Brand.

As of Thursday, those extra 3,200 meals found homes across the city at 15 different organizations, with Bryony House, Halifax Community Fridge, Hope Blooms and Souls Harbour among them.

“We serve about 200 meals a day,” said Marni Yuki, the chief program officer at Souls Harbour. “This week we did get 1,400 meals dropped off [Wednesday] because schools were closed on Monday. So, we kept half of them and have been passing them out to the guests leaving so they have another food source at home just in case they can’t get back out.”

Knowing that good quality food is available at community assistance organizations throughout the city gives people accessing these services a sense of familiarity.

“One lady came in today, and she was there when the food arrived at Souls Harbour,” Chef Kumud Singh said. “And they were just blown away by the amount of food we’re able to give them, and that everyone jumped up to help assist the driver in bringing the food in.”

Brand said as of Thursday they had an additional 800 meals to help the municipality, and with the cold weather coming, he added that access to these types of meals is important.

“Where are the neighbourhoods that don’t have access to food, and how can we make sure there is access?” he said. “That’s what we’re really facing, people have to make a choice, they can only go to a corner store and they have a limited budget.

“We want to make sure our food fits into that budget, or if you don’t have a budget, you can come and see us and we’ll take care of you.”

The Nook has daily meals at $5 or the Token Project where people can go in for a free meal or coffee.

“Bringing to light the family we are creating in our community, you can’t get more special than that,” said Singh.

“Because of the relationship we have with everyone we serve every single day, there’s trust and there’s safety there,” said Yuke.

And collaboration is key for all of it.

“It starts with us and why getting something good quality is so important for everyone because it’s a step towards better,” said Brand.

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