Internet Famous Homeless People

Going around some of these drop-in programs, I see people who could really do well in movies. And I wonder how many of the people around me are building something incredible on the internet... with social networking, blogging or whatever.

Check this link out: 6 Awesome Homeless People Saved by The Internet

No Scott Mission Lunches on Sunday!

Full apologies... the calendar has misleadingly said Scott Mission lunch every day of the week at 10:30 and 11:30, and it's actually every day except Sundays.

And they don't want you to go to both! Here's a recommendation: go to the 10:30 one and then bomb down to St. Felix on Augusta just north of Queen. Go through the projects south of the market. For bonus points, hit up St. Steven's at Augusta and College before Scott Mission. It's a triple-whammy that you'll need some real Tupperware to make full use of. If you tupperware the shit out of those three, you can chill for the rest of the day.

Again - sorry! This site is about accuracy and this is embarrassing.

Much Love,

The Overconnected Hungry

Our Lady of Good Counsel @ College & Ossington: Best Toronto Soup Kitchen You Never Heard of

Praise the lord! This unassuming Caribbean Catholic church will make your Wednesday. Every Wednesday.

So they open around 8 or 9am to let people in from the cold and grab some coffee and what have you, and then at 11am, watch out. Watch the fuck out. They will they will feed you. These ladies don't stop until you're unable to leave because you're too full. Today, they started us off with some salad, well-dressed, and then comes the hearty veggie soup, and then they start laying the groceries on us. They gave us fishes - whole fishes. Boxes of cookies. Granola bars. Orange Pekoe in bags. The good kind. And candies. Tons of them. We all came away with grocery bags full of it. My girlfriend is going to think I robbed a grocery store out of desperation.

I was the only anglo there. Everybody else was Portuguese and there were a couple Chinese ladies up in there. The ladies serving us were all Caribbean sweethearts. Only 18 people showed up, and it looks like that's what they were expecting.

And it's 100% evangelism-free.

Here's where 'tis:

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Thanks for the dignity!

It is completely reasonable to be without food money. Toronto's a pretty cheap city to live in, but still - everything's getting more expensive except your paycheque. Even with NoFrills and Price Chopper, feeding oneself is pricey. Most people, when money's tight, will compromise their diet to the point where it drags their life down. But not me. I will gladly accept the help that's offered so that I can keep my head straight and continue to work my way back to... ugh... the grocery store.

During the course of authoring this website, I have alternated several times between being absolutely broke with loads of time on my hands, and having tons of cash and a full-time job, and no time to cook my own food. Between the two, I've been healthier during my unemployed periods, because I've had the time to either cook for myself when I can find food money, or access soup kitchen food which is heartier (and often tastier) than Toronto restaurant food.

Aside from staying healthy, there's another benefit to having access to reliable meal programs: it offers a degree of independence. I don't have to worry about food. I don't have to hope for sympathetic friends to feed me. I can just say "oh yeah, I'm on my way to dinner" and it's true, motherfucker. "I just came from a great lunch - and hey, I grabbed you some brownies, want one?"

It's ironic to find being dependent on meal programs liberating - after all, real independence is being able to provide your own money for your own food, right? Well the thing is, if we were any good, as a nation, at implementing capitalism, that would add up. But we don't get real independence in this country. We don't get the opportunity to maximize our potential. If we did, nobody would run out of food money. We get poisoned from birth by a government desperate to prove how unimportant public health can possibly be, an educational system designed to isolate and disempower us, and a mental health system with a pathetic success rate (the mennonites did four times better than the DSM-4).

Canadians are fucked from the start: we're supposed to eat as much wheat, dairy, sugar and plastics as we possibly can, drink as much fluoride and chlorine as they can pack into the water, we're supposed to breathe exhaust every day and night, and see ourselves in the context of our job, our gender and our education. If you're a man with no job and a poor education, in Canada, in 2010, it's not easy to feel alive because you're the problem, you're not useful, and you're not worth talking to. Thanks to our meal programs, Toronto's poorest men do have one thing going for them: they can keep themselves alive and redefine what it means to be a valuable person: A kind, thoughtful problem-solver that everyone wants to talk to.

Fortunately, a certain group of people (Toronto's Christians, bless them) have gotten one thing right: empowerment of one's fellow person. Either that or it could be the most noble evangelism ever. It is kind of inspiring: "Come on into our holy room, have some food. Christ has taught us compassion."

So remember - when we make use of what's offered us, in a kind and respectful way, it doesn't somehow use up Toronto's store of goodwill. It increases it. Good will is contagious. Graciously accepting help cultivates self-respect, something that nobody can buy. Caring for oneself, really treating ourselves well, makes a huge difference in how we treat others, and how effective we are at getting back on track, whatever that means.

Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Center Schedule Update

I started this site because it was hard to find scheduling information about meal programs.

Typically you have to show up somewhere at the wrong time, wait to speak with a volunteer, and then drag the information out of them like it's their back teeth. And if you have problems affording your own food, it's likely that complicated schedules aren't going to be easy to write down and keep track of.

Like most food security agencies in Toronto, the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre (CONC) does not publish the schedule of their primary services.

The CONC website offers a history of the drop-in in article form, but not a schedule. The calendar is blank.

The hand-outs they provide at the front desk do give scheduling information, but it doesn't mention the snacks or the breakfast program. It does include an up-to-date calendar.

I erroneously listed their breakfasts as being between 10 and 11 in the calendar, and for that I must apologize. I have updated it to reflect the actual times: 8am - 9am, Monday through Thursday.

Quiche and fixed computers at Christie/Ossington Neighborhood Center

They were serving Quiche for lunch today at the Christie Ossington Neighborhood Center, along with some nice green beans. And all their main floor computers now work! Incredible. Plus everybody got a whole quiche to take home. Good day at C/O.

Some others things you may not know about this great spot:

• They have laundry services. You might get lucky and show up when it's not in use, but they have a signup thing so you can schedule yourself some time with the laundry room.
• There's a music recording studio and more computers downstairs in their "LOFT" youth program area. They don't have drums or a lot of instruments in the recording room like they do at Sketch, but their staff is pretty savvy and they've got some good electronic gear and a nice vocal booth.
• Their breakfast situation is really tight - they'll often have fresh fruit up in there too.