#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!

Mitzvah Day 2015

Mitzvah Day is a day when a group of people get together and volunteer and perform good deeds in the community. 
David Smith from Creative Kosher Catering and his staff decided that they wanted to come down to our soup kitchen and serve an amazing dinner to those in our care.  All the clients in the shelter as well as residents from our downtown supportive living programs were served a delicious meal of smoked meat, potatoes, salad and dessert.  We are incredibly grateful to David and his staff for sharing their passion of food with this city's most vulnerable population.

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.

Durwin

I just wanted to share with you a touching story about the success of one of our residents, Durwin.

It has been over one year since Hope Living moved to Kanata and life for Durwin couldn’t be better! When Durwin first came to Shepherds of Good Hope he was very introspective and did not relate well to others. He stayed in his room most of the time and did not speak to many people at all. Then a big change happened. The Hope Living program, along with Durwin left the chaotic downtown core and took residence at 145 Castlefrank Road in Kanata.

Slowly, Durwin came out of his shell. He said he was more relaxed in this new environment because the suburbs were quieter. He got away from the drugs and alcohol so prevalent on the streets of the inner core of the city and was able to concentrate on creating a better life for himself. The first thing he did was learn the bus routes so he could do his shopping and buy his food. After years of not playing piano he sat down at the piano in the residence and surprised everyone with his skill. The staff were thrilled and the other residents were pleased to hear this beautiful music coming from Durwin.

He also decided to learn a trade that would help him find work and so he chose bookkeeping. Durwin then did correspondence for the lessons in bookkeeping and studied quite hard. When he felt ready, he wrote exams and scored a whopping 83%! Durwin is now a certified bookkeeper. Durwin also keeps busy working in the residence tuck shop and emptying the vending machines and counting the money.

Durwin’s world has completely changed and so has Durwin. He is a new man with purpose, direction and goals. In this new environment and with continued encouragement from staff Durwin has no other place to go but up.

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.

Thank You Connie

Many years ago Connie got the idea that she wanted to do something for those less fortunate. She decided to reach out to friends and start a collection of clothes and other items that could be put to good use at Shepherds of Good Hope. She didn't realize when she started that this would become a yearly tradition contributed to by everyone on her street and in her book club. Today Connie came in with all of the stuff she had collected last year and we got to thank her for helping to make a big difference. What is an old sweatshirt to one person, can become a prized possession for someone else or something to help our staff engage with Ottawa's most vulnerable men and women. Through this yearly act of kindness, Connie and her friends have impacted hundreds of people and we are very grateful for all their support. Thank You!