Lunchtime grub for a great community cause

The Community Lunch Box Society held a BBQ at lunchtime on Friday to bring community members together while raising funds and collecting bottles to support the society. From 11:30 am until 1:30 pm, volunteers cooked up burgers, chatted, and enjoyed the sunshine. “It’s amazing. I’m surprised by how many people have come already, and even more are coming. It’s also amazing for Mr. Mikes to do all this for us. It’s the cherry on top,” said Chelsea McKennitt, a director on the society board.

Mr. Mikes Steakhouse donated all the grub and helped serve it up. The BBQ used was donated by Alexander Safety. “Paulette Plumber (Mr. Mikes owner) is here and is helping put the burgers together and serving them to people. I think it’s awesome that she donated all of this stuff to us and is also here donating her time.”

McKennitt joined the society this year and said she had been working with the Community Lunch Box through her old job, helping to build their bottle bins, and was working again with them through her current position. “I figured I should get involved. I’ve been in the community my entire life, so it felt like a good fit.”

As BBQ attendees lined up to grab a burger, they also brought bags of bottles with them, adding to the pile building in the garage behind them. McKennitt said that anyone interested in volunteering would find joy in doing so. “Picking up bottles is easy and fun. You can do it with a friend and drive around collecting them, so helping can be easy. I think it’s great! You can also volunteer your time to drop off school lunches, especially if you are already in the schools anyway. I will become even more involved once my child is of school age. There are so many ways to help. From donating your bottles to picking them up, or you can even join the board if you wanted to.”

Several of the society’s volunteers and employees attended the BBQ and board vice chair Haley St. Martin said it was nice to hang out together. Many work different hours and don’t get to see each other as often. “It’s a long time coming. We needed a BBQ event, I feel. It’s good to get out with the community. People are very generous. This is a very important cause, and I think it’s important that people know who we are supporting. It’s nice to see our volunteers coming out to eat too so that everyone can see who’s volunteering and working for us because we are coming together.”

St. Martin said that when she joined about a year ago, she didn’t know much about the society. “I just knew I wanted to be involved with something in the community. Once I joined, I realized that it’s actually pretty massive, and it does quite a bit for the community.” She added that getting more volunteers is always appreciated as the group does a lot. “They will see hand in hand what we do and who we help.”

Board member Brittany Carter spent the afternoon catching rays and chatting with eventgoers. She said seeing everyone made the day awesome. “I love seeing everyone. I love our staff and seeing our friends from different agencies that I don’t always see. It’s the best part. Sometimes I’m just picking up bottles, so I don’t get to be here to see the people sorting. I’m out there when they are here, so it’s nice to see them here and interact with them.”

For Carter, normalizing the use of lunches from the Community Lunch Box in schools is something she considers very important. “This way, it’s not a stigma, and everyone can get a lunch if they need it. Sometimes I forget that it’s not pizza day, so I don’t send my kid to school with a lunch. The Lunch Box lunches are available for my kid too. Please encourage your kids to get one if they need one.”

Society Chair Tara Baker said the event went very well and that she was proud to see people come together. “Today is awesome. It’s an opportunity for everybody to get together and enjoy the sunshine and create an inclusive space of kindness. Lots of our employees and volunteers are community members that do a whole bunch of stuff independently, so it’s nice to have something happen where we can come together.”

Mr. Mikes Owner, Paulette Plumber, said being involved was an honour. “It’s important to show community support. Being involved in anything community-related is important to me. It’s honestly a big honour for us for anyone, whether it’s a charity or non-profit, to ask Mr. Mikes to be involved. I like to have really good relationships with everyone in town.”

Anyone interested in having a bottle bin for their home is invited to reach out to the society. Residential bins make supporting the Community Lunch Box easy as pie. “Once you have one, all you have to do is call us when it’s full, and we will come to pick it up. That’s what we drive around for, to go pick up everyone’s bottles,” explained Carter.

Visit www.communitylunchbox.ca to learn more about the programs offered by the Community Lunch Box, such as the residential bin pick up, and to become a volunteer.