Centre 440 in Hawkesbury’s hot meal program launches with a boost from the Future Fund

Centre 440, a new ministry in the Parish of the Lower Valley, launched in mid-November and is now serving hot, healthy lunches every Saturday in the hall of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Hawkesbury, Ont. It received a boost of support with a $10,000 diocesan Future Fund grant.

Three of the core team of organizers spoke with Perspective after their third week of serving the hot meals, excited to see the program up and running and growing. News of the meals is spreading. The first week, they served 20 people, by the third it was 36, including some seniors and families with children.

In October, Carolyn Coffin-Caputo spoke in a group presentation on contextual mission at diocesan Synod, and she told the story of how Centre 440 was created. In the fall of 2024, the parish priest at that time, the Rev. Bob Albert worked on visioning with the congregations to help them ask “Who are we? … And what do we want to do as a church?’ In time, they discerned that they wanted to prioritize helping people who are homeless or coping with low income, and they focused on Hawkesbury, a town of about 11,000 where they knew there was a need for more social supports.

The next step was to research what was needed and what role the church could play. “We didn’t want to duplicate something that was already in place. We were ready to help an existing service, add on to an existing service, or create a new service,” Coffin-Caputo said.  A small group met with key people in Hawkesbury — Victim Services, the Social Services Department of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, a Hawkesbury food bank and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.

Penny Male-Kallio shared some of the local statistics. In the fall, there were more than 120 people in the Prescott-Russell area who were homeless — in temporary situations such as couch-surfing or living outdoors, about half of them were in Hawkesbury. When asked how the church could help, the agencies all told the group the same thing: Hawkesbury needs a place where people can get a hot meal.

With that in mind, the parish team visited Centre 105 in Cornwall to listen and learn about the breakfast program that now runs there four days a week. Inspired, they followed Centre 105’s example. In name, Centre 440 refers to its address in Holy Trinity Church at 440 Stanley Street, just as Centre 105’s name comes from its address at Trinity Church in Cornwall. They are also following in Centre 105’s footsteps, adapting the motto to: “Providing lunch, creating community.” They also visited Cornwall’s Agape Centre.

Part of the Future Fund grant will be used to pay for a commercial dishwasher and its installation in the church kitchen. “Up until now, we’ve been doing it all by hand,” said Penny Male-Kallio. Holy Trinity already had a good kitchen, but Centre 440 has required additional freezers and fridges. The kitchen will be certified, so they can cook on-site, which will also be a benefit to the church for rental use.

The parish’s new incumbent the Rev. Felix Longdon is onboard and a strong supporter.

Centre 440 is also getting a lot of support from the community, said Ron Kallio. “It’s overwhelming, just the words of encouragement, the monetary donations, the in-kind donations. It just started flowing in. We created a Facebook presence. I guess the word is out there.”

The generosity in the community has been so great that the Centre hasn’t had to buy much food yet. “What I think our biggest concern is, and what a problem to have, is that donations of food have already overwhelmed us for storage space. We’ve had farms donating Angus beef, grocery stores donating ham and meat, and breads coming from bakeries,” Coffin-Caputo said.

She added that the Rotary Club had also donated $1,500. Individuals, both from the church and the wider community, have been donating financially and volunteering to help prepare and serve the lunches.

They were planning for a special Christmas meal — turkey, ham and all the fixings to be served on Dec. 20. The central focus is on providing hot meals, but they have distributed some donations of winter clothing to people in need as well.

It is still too early for a sense of community to have developed among the participants coming to the meals, but Coffin-Caputo said those who have come can’t wait to come back and they are bringing others with them.

Feedback from the community is very positive. One person wrote on the Facebook page: “I think this ministry is the core of what a parish should be doing. Everything else including worship comes after service to neighbours.”

The team is energized and happy that their vision has been put into action. “We’re passionate about it,” said Coffin-Caputo. “It really is meeting a need, and it’s well supported…. We truly are blessed!”