Daily Bread Dinner Program
Every Wednesday an army of volunteers from churches across Brantford come together in the Grace church lower parish hall to put on a hot evening meal for people in need. This is a big project as many weeks we serve over 200 people dinner. Once a month, Grace facilities are used for a Saturday dinner program.
The Daily Bread Dinner Program is supported by the Anglican Deanery of Brant. Sydenham United Church also supports this initiative.
Because of its location and the size of its kitchen, Grace Church was chosen to host the meals. We serve a supper meal every Wednesday. Our mandate is to provide a healthy, well-balanced meal to those attending as well as create a non-judmental, friendly and, most of all, a caring atmosphere.
We serve a tossed salad, vegetable, potatoes, meat dish such as ham, chicken, cabbage roll casserole or meat loaf. We have also served spaghetti, stew and chili. Lighter meals are planned for the summer months.
The success of the program lies in the dedication of our 90 volunteers who come from eight different parishes. The meal benefits those who come for a meal, but the volunteers have found tremendous satisfaction from the program and, in fact, get as much from helping as those who come to eat with us. Many volunteers have commented that they are so grateful to be able to take part in an outreach program by giving more than financial support.
The volunteers are divided into four shifts. The first comes in at 10:00 a.m. to begin the preparation of the meal. The next shift comes in at 2:00 p.m. and continues the food preparation and final set-up of the hall. At 4:15 the group that serves arrives and at 4:30 p.m. the clean up shift arrives. Each shift is approximately two hours long.
There are homeless people and families in need in Brantford. Our first meal was held November 24, 1999 and was attended by 40 people. On May 23, 2000 we served 145 people. The number of meals served every Wednesday, 52 weeks of the year, is in the 140-200 range.
Our funding comes from "Ontario Works". We receive a subsidy of $1.50 per person. We have to be creative to keep within our budget. We think our summer meals will be more expensive to produce than the winter ones. Many churches as well as the Deanery helped to buy food as well as necessary supplies such as trays, bowls and large cooking pots.
Recently, our budget for this program has come under pressure and donations for this very worthwhile ministry will be gratefully appreciated.
