Kreative Kitchen cooks up community support

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This article was published 08/05/2023 (1205 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

About a dozen people were lined up outside St. Thomas Anglican Church just before 6 p.m. on a Wednesday, waiting for the Kreative Kitchen door to open.

They were among the 70 or so who came to the Weston neighbourhood church — many of whom have been coming every week since March 2020, to receive a delicious free meal for their families.

Cassandra Golondrina, one of the Winnipeg church’s wardens and a Kreative Kitchen volunteer, mingles with the group, greeting people by name.

“It’s my job to greet our dinner guests,” said Golondrina, who has been part of St. Thomas for 29 years.

“And we call them guests, not clients,” she said for emphasis.

Golondrina knows what that means from first-hand experience; she has used a food bank herself in the past.

“I remember what it felt like to feel like a number, not to be noticed,” she said. “It doesn’t feel good. That’s why we want it to be different for the people who come to St. Thomas. We want them to walk away feeling wonderful.”

The original idea behind the Kreative Kitchen was to offer a sit-down meal for local residents in the church’s fellowship hall. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing it to hand out food at the door.

At first, it provided meals for 11 families. Now, 70 families are registered each week, representing a total of 340 people (95 of them children).

Since starting three years ago, more than 20,000 meals have been prepared and served.

The food being given away this evening is soup and biscuits. Other times, head cook Meredith Robinson and assistant Ray Sainsbury make things such as chili, stir fry or rice bowls.

“It’s not a burden to cook the meals,” Robinson said. “It’s a way to live out my faith.”

It’s also a way to give back, she said: “I always ask what my life would be like if I had to worry about getting enough food.”

The food itself is donated by groups such as Peak of the Market, Winnipeg Harvest, Nor-West Food Co-op, Second Harvest and Maple Leaf Foods, which donates hams.

Funding for other expenses, such as containers or additional food items, comes from various foundations and individuals. It costs about $26,000 a year to run the kitchen, the children’s program and other services for people in the community, such as emergency hampers, a food pantry and a clothing closet.

The church estimates about 3,000 hours of time are contributed each year by volunteers for the various programs.

As for why so many people come to the church for food, “Money is tight and food is getting expensive,” said Golondrina, adding many guests work but have lower incomes, while some are seniors and others have disabilities.

It doesn’t matter why they come, she quickly added. “We don’t ask why… Jesus said to feed the hungry, no questions asked.”

For her, being part of the Kitchen “feeds my soul… this is what being church is, helping your neighbours.”

Stan is one of the people waiting for the door to open. He lives on a disability pension.

“It’s hard to get by right now,” Stan said, adding he often doesn’t have enough money to get to the end of a month. “This is helpful.”

A woman who didn’t want to give her name said the meal program “means a lot to me. It helps my budget go further. They are spreading love to the community.”

Fred is a senior. “This helps me make it through each month,” he said, adding the volunteers are “friendly and welcoming. They make me feel like a person when I come here.”

The Kreative Kitchen was the brainchild of Meredith Robinson, who combined it with the Kreative Kids program being run by her sister, Courteney Robinson, a longtime St. Thomas member and elementary school teacher.

About 10 years ago she started Kreative Kids, a drop-in for local children where they could do arts and crafts and play games. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she combined it with the meal program; each week, she sends 40-50 packages of activity ideas to homes with children, along with the food.

For her, the reason behind the meal program is simple.

“There’s a need,” she said. “We want to fill it. It’s a way for the church to be relevant in this community.”

Among the volunteers are Daisy, 12, Robinson’s daughter.

“I like being part of the effort to help others,” she said.

Zara Buenaventura, 14, feels similarly: “I like to know I can help people in some way.”

Taking a break from piling up boxes of donated potatoes, onions and hams, Wilson Akinwale, the priest at St. Thomas, said: “This is a way for us to live out our baptismal covenant to help our neighbours.”

“When we see people in need, we want to help them. We can’t close our eyes to their needs, turn them aside,” Akinwale said, referencing the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Gesturing to volunteers getting things ready for the food distribution, he added: “This effort is an amazing story, and these are amazing people. Why else are we here as Christians? This is a way for us to live a Christ-like life.”

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