Thanksgiving comes to the homeless

An African diaspora group hosted a community meal for people experiencing homelessness Saturday afternoon at Princess Park in Brandon.

More than 60 members of the community gathered for the Thanksgiving lunch.

The event was staffed by volunteers and local political leaders, including Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett, Spruce Woods MLA Colleen Robbins and Brandon West MLA Wayne Balcaen, who helped serve food to those attending.

Global African Diaspora Network Mobilization wanted to use the Thanksgiving weekend as an opportunity to spend time with people who might otherwise be left out of holiday celebrations, the organization’s general secretary, Stella Akomolafe, told the Sun during the event.

“This is our first event with the homeless people,” Akomolafe said. “We are all out here to celebrate with the community members and also have time with them to have lunch. We expect the turnout to grow throughout the afternoon, intending to serve more than 100 people.”

Among the offerings were African jollof rice, macaroni and cheese, turkey, bacon, beef, chicken, prawns, salads, vegetables, bananas, bread, pizza, chips and pastries.

Akomolafe said donations from businesses and community organizations helped make the event possible, with food and other supplies coming from restaurants and grocery stores, including Safeway, Domino’s Pizza, Styles Kitchen and Superstore, among others.

The group also thanked volunteers and businesses that provided food, gift cards, plates and cutlery for the gathering.

Fawcett said the lunch provided an important service.

“The weekends are always a little more difficult for food for some people,” Fawcett said.

He said Helping Hands already provides bagged lunches in the community, but that he was pleased to see the African diaspora community identify a need and take action.

“It’s also great to see the diaspora there, sort of saying, ‘What can we do in our community?’” Fawcett said. “We recognize things that need assistance, and they’re out here helping.”

Robbins said the gathering offered an opportunity to see the immediate impact of the initiative.

“What a perfect weekend — the weather, Thanksgiving, and seeing the smiles on the people’s faces to get a meal today. It just makes your heart warm,” she said.

“It brings them all together. Look at the joy in their faces to see that they can get a full stomach. The people sitting around — they’re all visiting, talking.”

Akomolafe said the organization was encouraged by the turnout and intends to make the Thanksgiving lunch a yearly event.

“We have a plan to make this an annual program whereby we can come out every Thanksgiving weekend and we can feed people and have a nice time out here with the members of the community,” she said.

She said she was initially uncertain about how many people would attend, but was pleased by the response as more community members arrived.

“It’s really so impressive.”

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