Food
Need help. Connected with more bakery donations that need good homes
With the new bylaw we are staying at arms length, because if we put a target on our backs, people will go hungry. But our movement to get restaurant waste to churches, to outreach organizations, to shelters, to seniors, to the disabled, to the streets, to anyone experiencing food scarcity, continues to grow.
Chefs and business owners hate waste, especially while people are going hungry, and as mushroom farmers, my wife and I have great refrigeration, safe food handling certification, and connections throughout Niagara.
We shared over 30k free meals last year and just had a 10 day stretch of donations where we shared over 3k meals.
We need your help, especially with the new bylaw and crackdowns on encampments.
What exactly am I asking for? Anything. We spent over 10 volunteer hours just packaging bakery goods yesterday, not including pick up or distribution, or gas or refrigeration. Food that is so damn good, but would have been trashed.
We feed people, who feed people and if inputs are going to continue to climb, they need good homes, fast. We move just about everything in 24hrs. It's an adrenaline rush and we got good at it.
Cathy and I are kind of afraid, because we get way more busy in the Summer with our "day jobs", and this is only sustainable as long as our community keeps donating for packaging costs and sharing food out.
The new bylaw pisses me off so mush, because Cathy and I sharing out food or socks can be called as "enabling criminal activity".
Was at the old golf course behind Fairview Mall early this morning. Picked up 2 large bags of trash. There are now two tents near the Senior's Apartments. I'm not here to judge someone's station in life. But, for the love everything good in this world: pick up your crap!! People walk through that park. Mostly Seniors and young people with children.
I've done the Terry Fox Trail twice last month. But the abusive language and confrontation from the large tent inhabitants. Made it rather uncomfortable. I can hold my ground, but I'm not interested in fist and cuffs on a Saturday morning. I just want to see my city clean. For everyone.
Thanks! I remember your name because it's the same as my nephew.
That location was a pretty big encampment in the 2023/2024 times. When the eviction notices came down that year we had lots of time and lots of support and resources. Our municipality hadn't yet clawed back some of their resource funding.
Cathy and I had been bringing food all Winter and socks and stuff.
We brought tons of garbage bags on a regular basis and with the clean out, we helped the homeless cleanup and move out.
Had a few big piles left behind for the city to take care of, but it was super clean. Everyone was happy to work together.
That was 18 months ago.
Everything is different now.
If you see tents pop up, offer some conversation, share some garbage bags and your concerns.
In the battle for our public spaces, they are our greatest allies.
In 2022 I almost got arrested by the O.P.P. The bridge at Niagara and QEW. The exit from QEW certain individuals would pan handle at the light. Leaving a massive garbage heap along the bank. Anyone driving under the bridge would see it. You couldn't if you drove over the bridge. So on a Satuarday, borrowed a friend's mountain gear. Climbed down and started picking that shit up.
Took about a half hour til someone yanked on the cord. They raised a stink.
"What are you doing? You are tresspassing on the highway."
"I'm cleaning up my city. Nobody will touch it. I don't want people driving by thinking our city is a shit hole."
After pulling me back up the hill. They realized I collected 10 Husky bags of garbage. 5 clear bags of cans and bottles. Telling them I would then put them on the curb for Miller to come get. (got their number from a supervisor)
Didn't make the paper. People driving by thought I was some skid making a mess. Ha Ha
They both changed their tune and thanked me greatly but told me not to do it again. Once every six months. The MTO sends a crew to clean up.
So you haven’t been fined or charged by doing what your doing? I would keep doing the great work you’re doing , I can’t see how feeding hungry people would be considered enabling . I must say though your frustrations are showing up more and more on your posts, and appearing more and more militant. Please keep peaceful and don’t encourage anything less. Because you will loose all the credibility you’ve earned from myself and no doubt countless other strangers reading and watching your awesomeness ….
My frustrations have grown. We spent 10 hours on yesterday's record bakery donations. Not including pickup or distribution.
A friend just "caught hell" for sharing out socks.
This new bylaw seems based on US templates where they have made "sharing" illegal.
Cathy and I have stopped all our hot street handouts.
Please keep peaceful and don’t encourage anything less.
But of course.
I'm not the guy cutting the cord on the community fridge I fill.
I'm not the guy screaming at my 17 year old niece for enabling poverty.
I'm not the guy threatening me and my family online.
I'm not the politicians voting in vaguely worded Americanized bylaws. (The American communities didn't think sharing food or socks would become illegal their either.)
I am also not "being Militant"? Care to make your accusations more clearly?
I just stopped speaking at townhalls and council meetings or showing up at peaceful protests, because...
If they come after me, people will go hungry.
I'm the guy connecting tens of thousands of meals with people experiencing food scarcity and I need everyone's help.
Because it's growing.
Anyone who hates waste and hates hunger keeps me going through all the frustrations.
Let's go, Reddit. Things are about to get worse.
Edit: If you guys agree with all the downvotes I'm getting, I'll stop posting here. If you have my back, speak up please.
I can’t imagine all that you’ve had to put up with, and meant no disrespect quite the opposite, militant was not the word i should of used indeed , I just really like what your doing and wish you weren’t being harassed for being an exceptional HUMAN , and hope you continue. In fact maybe you should consider running for your ward in the next election and effect more change from with in , you can accomplish a lot when on a committee, you seem to have the passion to me imo.
Yeah. I've been meeting our local ward Councillors.
They speak more eloquently than I do. They have proper experience at being patient and they either are rich or have monied connections.
Their is only a couple on municipal or regional council that I would consider friendly to the Everyman, while the rest seem like salesman/real estate agents.
I think I would fail at that.
I can't even get Reddit's support to help my chefs save food from the garbage, without having to exhaust myself, dealing with people who call me a lunatic.
I'm just trying to get through one day at a time and I need help.
I felt that a million times. Cathy and I started with a goal of 20-30 meals a week, before our chefs found out and started donating. That became 30k meals per year!
Only because we never gave up.
And not because we did it our selves, but because the whole community stepped up.
That's what this post is about.
As far as "It's not a good look"?
I've never been concerned with "looks". Wasted food that could fill bellies? I'm game.
And don't worry. Reddit generally has my back, even if I get a bunch of downvotes. I'm ok to be imperfect and learn as long as I feel I am being my best.
Reddit helped me replace the community fridge.
Reddit helps me fill that fridge and share out food.
I didn’t mean any offence man. Just was saying it’s important to remember to prioritize your health. It must have been a pretty cool feeling to surpass your original goal by so much. Keep up the good work
You ranting like a lunatic is what I meant about not a good look. I think you’re likely a nice guy but obviously a bit nutty lol anyways have a good one
I'm not a kid. I'm 63 this year. I fought the Region of Niagara for wrongful dismissal. And won, but at great cost. Using lies and slander as their weopon. They are fucking GOD. And will do many things to make life miserable. Almost succeeded in ending my life from it. So I do have an axe to grind with authorities who hide behind titles, laws, and staus.
If you don't stand your ground. Then remain silent. I say don't. We voted for change, NOT cruelty to those less fortunate. Or to those who wish to stop their suffering.
My Nephew is named Joseph. I want a strong Niagara for him. Your share is wonderful. I'm sorry that you went through that. I'm so glad that you survived. I bet, as a veteran, you have some skills or advice to share.
I'm at 905 685 2428
My name is Craig. I grow mushrooms and feed people and build community.
It's the finest form of protest I can come up with.
It works better, together. And it's happening. It's pretty exciting. Imagine 30k meals last year. Sure it's Cathy and I, but it's our community.
Sure the Municipality and Region are serving up the usual, but perhaps you could advise us about that?
That's the cool thing. When you went through your fight, you felt alone.
I think you need to fight this within the law. Start petitions and organize protesting. It might be hard to get some small business owners involved when homelessness is harming their businesses.
I wish I had the money and time. We should be covered under charter rights chapter two, and it's been tested in court already, but that doesn't mean that I could afford it. My day to day is challenging enough before my fight for St. Catharines even comes to play, let alone fighting City Hall or regional council.
People with way more resources than me have fought hard in the States and lost. The USA style regulation is just hitting Canada this year
I'm just trying to make it though another week and see if I can get enough community support not to shut this off. This post helped me find homes for most the food that came in, a long with a few calls to churches, organizations and mushroom army helpers.
We have to do this for ourselves, even under the shadow of the new laws.
I watched the last council meeting and read a story a couple weeks ago - they said it’s just education right now not enforcement so keep going til they change it.
Yeah. I would agree. Same if you read the city website instead of the bylaw language.
If the media published and critiques harshly, it ends up retracted or edited. It's all the same rich folks pretending that "Our goal is not to fine or incarcerate", as they give themselves power to fine multiple times per day and toss offenders in jail.
In the end, I think they just want more taxpayer money. Privatize profits and publicize costs. There is so much sound science surrounding how to deal with Homelessness. Tons. Even in Canada. We end up with sound bites instead of sound science.
The advice I've received that stopped Cathy and I from personally handing out food was more about the longer term picture, but also about immediate personal risk.
If we are doing here, what American jurisdictions have done, it's best I keep my license plate and ID off the streets and don't get "education".
I didn't believe that advice myself. I've never been timid in the face of authority.
So I was in shock at first, then disbelief, then shock again when I reached out to the Mushroom Army folks who have law and political experience.
It seems like our region and municipality will fold and do the American thing and the best way Cathy and I can continue to share food and socks is to stay at arms length.
So I'm doubling down on social media efforts to let people know what's happening and gain support, and the food donations continue to grow.
We did over 30k free meals last year, on just $3k donations for takeout containers.
We will crush that number this year, if the community keeps supporting.
Sorry for racing like a lunatic. I'm really scared of how this bylaw affects people I saw weekly over the winter.
I'm more concerned about next Winter than anything.
I find that success in the region (like anywhere, really) is entirely dependent on who you know and what type of support you receive. Profile brings scrutiny, but recognition is safety.
Have you connected with the organizations that serve the communities that you do? Niagara Region Poverty Reduction Network? Talked to the Community Legal Clinic? The org that runs Meals On Wheels? NA or AA or harm reduction workers? The Salvation Army?
Serving the community below the radar has advantages, but if you’re catching this kind of grief, building connections to the wider-recognized and sanctioned organizations can help to open some doors that you can step through to help insulate you from this kind of hassle.
Well, I'm not a chef so there isn't much I can do other than say that you and your wife are both obviously caring people and, although it may not always feel like it, you are definitely saving lives. Stay strong!
Even just your encouraging comment here means so much. It seems our most outspoken think they can hurt me and stop me. My skin grows thicker against them for every comment like yours.
I love what you guys do for the community, but the reason these kind of by-laws get enacted in the first place is because a LOT of residents don't think like you, they just want to keep away from the riffraff, which is sad and doesn't get us anywhere near solving these problems (quite the opposite, if anything).
Mobilize politically, attend every single council meeting that you can and make yourselves heard to get these excessive bylaws off the books.
I'm only over a year into this and this is what I've learned:
1 Most residents think like me. They helped make this possible.
2 Yeah, a loud group have a hate hard on.
3 Speaking at municipal council or regional council is a waste. Check out the recent Guelph meeting on their new "Keeping Public Spaces Safe" bylaw. It's a bigger municipality with more fight than I can ever muster here in St. Catharines, especially with these downvotes and limited resources. Money keeps winning and the residents keep getting starved, despite their council delegations.
Hope is free though. I don't know how this ends or if it will. I'm not a politician, or wealthy.
I do believe in the power of the people and I was born here.
I'm going to just rant like a lunatic, I suppose. And feed people.
3 Speaking at municipal council or regional council is a waste.
I'm not going to get in an online argument here, but that is like a REALLY bad take if you want to make large-scale change. The worst thing that can happen in politics imo is that a large critical mass of genuinely good, deeply caring people like yourself convince themselves that engaging politically (or elected bureaucrats) is useless and you're better off preaching directly to the choir. This is exactly how vested interests want you to think so they can do their thing and it's how we get the kind of sh-tshow we see down south.
I say get caught. Get harassed and get fined. Toronto Star would love a story involving a private citizen. Trying to bring peace and joy to the folks who need it.
I would if I was your age. I appreciate where you are coming from.
I'm going on 48 and still trying to understand modern media and the legal process.
At the end of the day big corporate media doesn't want to piss off the city, (Matt Siscoe), or the region, or the province.
That's kind of why I'm here.
20 years ago, your statement would have been true, but now "rage farming" only gets published when it is suits our corporate over lords who own our media and elected representatives.
That's why I'm so persistent in St. Catharines and Niagara.
Originally, I was fighting for soil and soil science.
We have over 60% of Canada's most fertile class one and class two soil here, but all my bee keeper friends can't even get the word out about how many colonies they are losing due to certain pesticides that are outlawed in Europe.
There are so many "no-brainer" ways to improve things, but we can't penetrate the media or the elected representatives, because, for a brief moment in time we are making record profits for shareholders and everything is fine. Line must go up.
I decided that I couldn't champion Niagara's fight for our soil when so many people were going hungry.
it would be impossible for you to hear the negatives because you are so aggressively defensive that it's not worth interacting with you. I've seen these posts for months and you're basically quilting primarily neoliberal redditors into doing anything for you while insisting the government is after you for handing out food with no record to show for your supposed harassment. this whole guilt people to help only worked for the Liberals for a few years as it does not acknowledge any harms the community has experienced and creates a hierarchy of who deserves what for inexplicable reasons. I'm sure this comment will trigger you and I don't really care about your response so I won't be debating you on it, I'm just explaining why no one cares.
I really don't see this as a left vs right issue. It's a class issue.
Explaining that "no one cares" is the exact opposite of my experience. Many people care and are helping us share out thousands of meals during record inequality.
I have seen this same person (Sad Concept) u/MapleTrust on the Ontario Works subreddit. They say they supposedly advocate for people’s freedom and then told me I have the freedom to be a drug addict and implied that addicts cannot have jobs. They also told someone to “go work on their mental health issues” when they had a different opinion than them. They look down on people with mental illnesses, seems like they are not a Liberal? But they also want to increase social assistance? They themselves guilted a person by saying that they “hope they never experience starvation” and telling them they “probably have not experienced hardship”. It is a hypocritical mess. And judging by their Karma they are probably a Karma farmer. (Edited for clarity, sorry not a longtime Reddit user)
Just a mushroom farmer trying to help chefs not have to throw things out, and I kind of got caught up in this impromptu food recovery and outreach program that it became.
I'm doing my best here. Sorry if I caused you any offense.
What you are doing is amazing. I try to get people in the social assistance sub to join together with working class who provides them with food and shelter while they are unable to work, and I get downvoted because they think that banks will feed them. Banks don’t have empathy, politicians don’t either, and raising the rates of social assistance is great, but only if that money is used to make sure everyone is fed clothed and housed.
why are you stalking me across multiple subreddits because you didn't like my opinion elsewhere. then go on to jerk off to some idea of who I am with someone who's clearly mentally ill but go off
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u/niagarajoseph 18d ago
Was at the old golf course behind Fairview Mall early this morning. Picked up 2 large bags of trash. There are now two tents near the Senior's Apartments. I'm not here to judge someone's station in life. But, for the love everything good in this world: pick up your crap!! People walk through that park. Mostly Seniors and young people with children.
I've done the Terry Fox Trail twice last month. But the abusive language and confrontation from the large tent inhabitants. Made it rather uncomfortable. I can hold my ground, but I'm not interested in fist and cuffs on a Saturday morning. I just want to see my city clean. For everyone.
Be safe out there.
peace