Donation Table
A Patron’s Story:
“As someone who is a huge advocate for poverty-related challenges, whether it be food insecurity, housing, homelessness, transit to name a few–I know this struggle is real. As a PWLE (person with lived experience) with these challenges, I know how it feels personally to struggle with paying rent and bills, much less being able to go to the grocery store for food. I haven’t been able to go to an actual grocery store to buy groceries in a while. When I do, it’s with the help of gift cards.
Luckily, for community members like me, there are feeding programs within the city which offer free meals (lunch) to the public. The Dew Drop Inn is one of those feeding programs. I live in Fort William, however, find it is worth my while to travel via transit to Port Arthur to visit the Dew Drop Inn daily. Feeding programs like the Dew Drop Inn have literally saved my life. The food is always plentiful with soup & salad to start with a main meal with some kind of protein, starch, vegetables, dessert, coffee/tea/juice/water.
Not to mention, all the food donations collected or dropped off by wonderful community members who know just how important places like this are needed. Just last week I picked up some coffee creamers, the day before some tomatoes–VOILA–home made tomato soup!! With a little work, I’m able to create some amazing meals for myself.
I make the trip to have lunch some days with a friend in PA. Some days we take our lunches “to go” and go sit at Waverly Park. There’s nothing like sitting in a room full of people who are not only feeding their souls, mental health and well being. Unfortunately, the pandemic has been challenging for people like me. All too often, people like me fall through the cracks in the system because I don’t fall into what is considered to be living in poverty.”
