Kinsmen donate to Home Comfort Meals

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The Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club recently asked the community to contribute to their Food For Friends campaign – and matched community donations worth $5,000 – to provide food for the local food bank and to provide hot meals to seniors unable to leave their homes.

A Food For Friends donation of $3,000 was made Friday to Chrissy’s Catering to provide 300 free meals through Chrissy’s Home Comfort Meals program in Tillsonburg.

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“Home Comfort meals are designed for, not necessarily only seniors, but for people who are definitely confined to home,” said Marcel Rosehart of Chrissy’s Catering.

People with weakened immune systems, he said, are a prime example.

“People with cancer, and stuff like that, they are not going out. So we deal with a lot of that. And then, there are just more mature people who don’t have family in the area and they can’t get out. Sometimes what they are making for themselves… it’s not sustainable in the long term. Some requests come from their families, so we add them to the list. More than two months into the COVID-19 lockdown, that’s hard for people. So we do a lot of that.”

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“It’s an easy ordering system isn’t it?” asked Shane Curtis, President of the Tillsonburg Kinsmen Club, who with Kin Cedric Tomico, presented $3,000 cheque to Rosehart from the Food For Friends fundraiser initiated by the Kinsmen in mid-May.

“It’s ‘huge’ easy,” Rosehart smiled, noting they are also accommodating when it comes to special requests (eg. low sodium).

“It’s no problem – and we deliver them. They get deliveries free of charge. They don’t have to get out of their house. We can literally put it at the front door in a bag, ring the doorbell, wait for someone to come out and get it, and we walk away. Completely touch free.”

Payments are made by credit card or e-transfer, often through the customers’ children or neighbours. They are not cash transactions.

“The menu changes daily and it’s always a hot meal. Always a protein, a salad, a starch.”

Contact Chrissy’s Catering at 519-688-1700 for details.

“I think the big thing is that the Kinsmen did a great thing. $3,000 is going to do 300 meals, so if we do 50 (Home Comfort) meals a week, that’s an accomplishment.”

Rosehart will determine who gets the free meals.

“I have a list of people,” he said.

“We were already doing it (Home Comfort meals) when the pandemic started, and now it’s a big part of what we do.”

Home Comfort deliveries sometimes extend beyond basic meal delivery. They have sometimes delivered groceries with meals, bag tags, or even picked up items that need to be recycled. Sometimes they chat with customers near doorways.

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“Sometimes they just need to talk to somebody.”

It’s all about helping neighbours in need.

“There are people that are seriously locked down, they just cannot move,” said Rosehart.

“Anybody that’s been recently through a cancer bout, for sure,” Curtis nodded.

“We have one couple that we deliver to seven days a week – and we don’t normally deliver on weekends,” said Rosehart. “But he can’t go out, and she’s not going out for risk of bringing it home to him. And no family the area.”

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Chrissy’s Catering offers Lunch Box Meals ($8) to the general public, weekdays 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. They also have a Dinner Menu ($10), available from 5-5:30 p.m., both by pick up, or delivery if ordering two meals, by calling 519-688-1700. The menus are on Chrissy’s Catering Facebook page.

cabbott@postmedia.com