Group taking meals to the streets for Islanders in need

Every Friday, John and CharleneBennettdrag a little red wagon with a cooler on top stocked with food for those on the streets in Charlottetown.

The husband and wife team are part of theCharlottetown-based outreach groupHarvest House P.E.I., which aims toservepeople across the Islandstruggling withissues likehousing, mental health or addiction.

Prior to the pandemic, the organization offered hot meals at its location along University Avenue on Fridays.

But when COVID-19 hit the province,some changes had to be madedue to capacity protocols.

"Almost every day that we were open we would have a hot meal for people," said JohnBennett, the organization's executivedirector.

"When our facilities had to shutdown in March of 2020 we looked for other alternatives and we very quickly decided to take meals out to people."

Now they take mobile meals around Charlottetown onFridays.

We're not sure about this winter, whether people will find a warm spot in a coffee shop and we won't find them on the street. John Bennett, Harvest House P.E.I.

"We usually prepare 20 to 24 meals and our cooler holds 12. So we take 12 out to start with and typically we would get rid of those in a half-hour," Bennett said.

"It has to be a meal something that is fairly substantial and meaty if you will," he said. "One of the popular ones is shepherd's pie, lasagna, casseroles things like that that have some substance to them."

'Know our clients'

Bennett said when he hands out the meals he sometimes meets people on the street he has never seen at Harvest House.

"We just do a route that kind of covers Queen Street, Kent Street and Grafton Street," he said. "Just the main streets where people tend to perhaps find panhandlers."

Then he returns to get his car and expands the search radius to other areas of Charlottetown where people may be in need of a meal.

Bennettsaid he knows the typical spots thosestruggling on the streets of Charlottetown typically set up, he said.

"We kind of know our clients and we know who we are looking for and sometimes they have friends with them," Bennett said.

Winter worry

Winter is fast approaching and Bennett said he worried that cold temperatures willmakefinding those in need ofa hot meal more difficult.

"We're not sure about this winter, whether people will find a warm spot in a coffee shop and we won't find them on the street," he said.

"We'll continue to offer the meal and if it turns out we are just not finding people we will just open our doors here and let people know they can come."

Bennett said there is also typically a hot meal handed out throughout the week at Harvest House, put together by volunteers fromchurch groups and women's institutes which also help prepare the mobile meals.

More from CBC P.E.I.