Free breakfast comes at right time for most vulnerable
Vinny Hall saved himself a trip to a non-profit for breakfast Tuesday morning as free egg sandwiches were handed out in Old Market Square.
Hall left with four sandwiches, including one for his Bullmastiff dog.
Volunteers from Manitoba Egg Farmers, a group that represents the province's egg farmers, handed out the sandwiches and coffee Tuesday to passing drivers and to growing lines of people working and living downtown.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Vinny Hall and his dog, Baby, enjoy a moment together with the free egg sandwich in Old Market Square Thursday morning.
The sandwiches were made by culinary arts students from Red River College Polytechnic. After an hour, one third of the 1,000 sandwiches were gone.
'This is great and I came last year, too,' Hall said while munching on a sandwich beside his dog.
Hall has lived at the Woodbine Hotel for four years and went for the sandwich because he wouldn't get his pension and rental assist money until Wednesday. He was recently was laid off from working at the bar attached to the hotel. While he usually tries to get a meal at Lighthouse Mission, the free sandwiches made staying home more convenient.
Chris McClelland, who also lives at the Main Street hotel, came to to the tent for a sandwich with his partner, Ily Massan, after Hall mentioned the event.
'She's pregnant, so any free food is good food,' he said. 'This is awesome, they should have more of this.'
McClelland works as a drywaller and carpenter and makes minimum wage. That income makes it difficult to find safe, stable housing, and to even get by with rent at the hotel, he said. Both he and his partner often rely on food from community outreach programs.
Breakfast was served at Agape Table at 7 a.m. Tuesday and in four hours, 900 people left with a morning meal. Dave Feniuk, general manager for the West End non-profit, said the need for free meals has spiked in recent years. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the charity would serve 85,000 meals annually. That number rose to nearly 173,000 in 2024, Feniuk said.
In addition to newcomers, homeless people and the 'working poor,' more seniors have been seen in line for food, Feniuk said.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Raybez Norris takes a moment to sit and enjoy his free coffee, having already eaten an egg sandwich.
Wednesdays
A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.
'Everything's rising and their old age security or CPP might not be. You never know where that turn in life is going to come from, and when you find yourself in need.'
The Lighthouse Mission offers eggs and bacon for breakfast twice a week but usually runs out within the first hour it is open, said Peter McCullen, the charity's executive director. Rising inflation rates have made it more difficult to stock the regular supplies the Main Street non-profit needs, like eggs, milk and coffee.
It serves up to 300 breakfast meals a day and when it runs out of eggs, it tries to supplement with other foods, like muffins, McCullen said.
'It'd be nice to be able to get that high protein breakfast for the community, but it's just overly expensive.' McCullen said, noting the charity has seen a decrease in donors. 'Everyone looks forward to the bacon and eggs and when they run out, its disappointing. It breaks my heart.'
matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca
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