Holy Trinity School

Today on my regular visit with all of our kitchen volunteers, I met some new friends,  the kids from Holy Trinity School.  They came in to volunteer and make sandwiches for our clients.

Thanks for helping out the hungry in your community!

#JOEYCupOfCare

Yesterday was an exciting day in the soup kitchen!  This time with amazing soup from JOEY Lansdowne!

JOEY Restaurants has an initiative called JOEY Cup of Care where staff from the restaurants prep and prepare thousands of bowls of soup for hungry people in the community.  We had the pleasure of having the JOEY staff in our kitchen to serve lunch and dinner for our wonderful clients.

The JOEY staff also pitched in with day to day chores of prepping vegetables

And we also had special guest server, Mayor Jim Watson there at dinner to serve the delicious soup to our clients.

 

Thank you so much to JOEY Lansdowne and Mayor Jim Watson for helping us help those in our community!

A Valentine's Day Celebration

Happy (Early) Valentine's Day!

Because Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday, we took the time out today to make a very special meal for our community!  Our friends at Fitzroy Beef Farmers donated enough delicious beef for us to cook over 400 roast beef meals for lunch!

Our wonderful kitchen staff and volunteers started preparing yesterday.

And today at lunch I came down to the kitchen to help our volunteers carve the roast.

And to top off this fantastic Valentine's Day meal, we handed out special chocolate treats to our clients.

Thank you very much to Fitzroy Beef Farmers, our staff and our volunteers for making this a special day for those in our care.  Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at Shepherds of Good Hope!

Creative Kosher Catering to Serve on Mitzvah Day

David Smith from Creative Kosher Catering Serving for Mitzvah Day

Shepherds of Good Hope is pleased to announce that in honour of Mitzvah Day David Smith from Creative Kosher Catering is coming with dinner and his staff to serve the shelter dinner at their Soup Kitchen at 233 Murray Street on February 8^th from 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm.

Creative Kosher Catering is a premier catering company in Ottawa and has been the catering company of choice for many high profile events across the city.

David Smith said, “On this Mitzvah Day it is the Jewish values of kindness towards others that have brought me here to serve the less fortunate without judgment or reward.”

Anna Silverman commented, “David Smith has been a big supporter of Shepherds of Good Hope and continues to support our efforts with donations of wonderfully prepared food at every opportunity.  For this we are extremely grateful.”

For further information: contact Anna Silverman (613) 293-1003.

Thank You Shopify our Newest Community Partner

Shopify is truly an Ottawa success story, having grown in less than 10 years into one of the largest E-Commerce companies in the world! But we are very grateful that they have never forgotten their roots and have chosen to support the Shepherds of Good Hope in a variety of ways over the years.

That is why I was so pleased to have Richard and Tim from Shopify come for a visit and accept a Community Partner certificate on behalf of the company. As part of the kitchen team, Tim and Richard have ensured that any leftover food from Shopify's new Elgin St location has made its way to our Soup Kitchen and in the process they have provided thousands of meals for hungry men and women.

A big thank you to everyone at Shopify for all that you have done for the community and we look forward to continuing to develop a partnership in the years to come.

Export Development Canada

On Friday December 12^th we had a special group of volunteers from EDC. This wonderful volunteers came to help spread the holiday cheer by making a special meal for the women who live in Brigid’s Place, a Shepherds of Good Hope supportive living facility for the most street entrenched and hardest-to-serve women in the city of Ottawa due to addiction issues, mental health and factors relating to past trauma. All of the 11 women who are currently staying at Brigid’s have experienced exceptionally difficult lives and they were so grateful to the volunteers for taking the time to make them such a special meal. 

  

 

The volunteers had a great time volunteering together but the joy they brought to our ladies is what really marks the holiday spirit. 

If you would like to volunteer, or bring in a group to volunteer, please click HERE.

Members of Parliament Guest Servers

Today we had members of Parliament and the Parliamentary Senate serving lunch in the soup kitchen. Senators Asha Seth, Jim Munson, Senator Tobias Enverga and MP Joe Daniel took time out of their busy schedules to come and assist with the noon meal.

In the spirit of the holiday season, Senator Asha Seth generously sponsored the lunch was able to meet and speak with the most vulnerable men and women amongst us.

There was close to 500 people in our lunch line today for the wonderful meal that was served. Clients were absolutely thrilled to receive large chicken breasts and chocolates for dessert. Some of the guests were even overheard saying it was the best meal they ever had!

We are so grateful to Senators Seth, Munson, Enverga and MP Daniel for their compassion and dedication to the homeless and impoverished in our community.

Ladies Who Lunch

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of the ladies that attended the Ladies Who Lunch event yesterday at the Ottawa Convention Centre. There were 300 women that joined together for good food, laughs, Christmas cheer and helping those less fortunate than themselves.

 

 

In raising funds for #GiftofHope, the women managed to raise $5100 towards our Christmas Hamper Program! The Christmas Hamper Program helps over 1100 families per year provide a Christmas meal as well as extras such as children's toys during the holiday season.  What an amazing gift to those that have so little but need so much!

 

If you would like to contribute to the #GiftOfHope, please:

 

#GiftOfHope

Shepherds of Good Hope will be the recipient of Ladies Who Lunch Holiday Event at the Ottawa Convention Centre at 55 Colonel By Drive on November 12^th at noon.  The Ladies will be purchasing items to fill a Christmas Hamper at each table with an entire Christmas Meal and all of the trimmings. All items will go towards the 30^th Annual Christmas Hamper Program at Shepherds of Good Hope. We are calling the event #GiftOfHope

 

 

Today I had the pleasure of being on Daytime Ottawa to discuss the Christmas Hamper Program as well as everything else we do for the community in Ottawa.  Please check out the show tonight at 5PM and 11PM on Rogers (ch. 22) or if you have a MyRogers account,  you can watch online HERE.

 

 

If you would like to contribute to the #GiftOfHope:

 

 

Beth Shalom

On Sunday a large and enthusiastic group of volunteers from Congregation Beth Shalom came to help out in the soup kitchen. We were extremely grateful for all their help as the kitchen was particularly busy with hungry clients trying to warm up from the cold. From the time the doors opened till everyone was served the group hustled around with constant smiles. A big thank you to everyone in the group.

 

Meet Ken

Ken has been a volunteer with us for over 7 years!  We sat down with him to ask him about his experience serving the community.



At Shepherds of Good Hope, we value each and every volunteer.  I myself volunteer all around Ottawa on a regular basis and have been doing so since I was very young.  Giving back to the community is something very important to me and it sure is to all of our wonderful volunteers!

Target Canada

Over the last year Target Canada has been an incredible community partner making countless donations of food, clothing and other much needed goods to various Shepherds of Good Hope facilities. So we were very excited when they asked us if a team could come volunteer in the soup kitchen and meet some of the clients that they are helping to support. The team was working so hard at peeling potatoes and making sandwiches we had a tough time pulling them away in order to take a photo!

 

A big thank you to everyone at Target Canada for making community a priority.

If you ever want to volunteer or learn more about the programs at Shepherds of Good Hope please contact Judy.

Pizza Day!

Today was a special treat in the Soup Kitchen!  Thanks to Little Caesar's we were able to provide pizza to everyone that comes for community lunch, that is usually around 400 people per day!

A few of our regular Friday volunteers getting ready to serve lunch!

Coleslaw also made an appearance



As well as some macaroni salad!

 



Pastries for dessert



Thanks so much to Little Caesar's, all of our donors and volunteers for being able to feed Ottawa's hungry every single day!

Check out our website HERE

Alterna Comes to Help Out

Today we had some team members from community partner Alterna Savings and Credit Union come to volunteer in the soup kitchen. While we are always appreciative of the additional help it was wonderful for them to get a chance to mingle with the volunteers and clients and see the work they are helping to support. As a member of Alterna we know firsthand the emphasis they put on community engagement and we look forward to a wonderful long term partnership.

If you or your team are looking for a fun way to give back to the community please contact us to discuss the different volunteer opportunities available.