Neighbourly love

Neighbours should help neighbours, says the executive officer at HMCS Griffon.

On Monday Lt.-Cmdr. Les Newman did just that, donating a cheque worth nearly $1,400 to the Dew Drop Inn, the military’s way of giving back to the community, he said.

“This is a charity that we’ve donated to in the past,” said Newman, joined by Chief Petty Officer Dale Warren for the presentation.

“They’re right down the street, so they’re one of our neighbours and it’s that type of year, we want to help. The demand is usually higher, it’s colder, it’s Christmas and it’s just to make sure that everybody is being fed as well as possible in the season.”

The Dew Drop Inn, located adjacent to St. Andrew’s Church on Red River Road, has been serving warm meals to the homeless and hungry since 1981.

Terri Favreau, the soup kitchen’s director, said on average between 150 and 200 people are fed each day, at an average cost of about $300. Much of the food is donated by local businesses and restaurants, though some must be purchased.

A donation like this will keep the meals coming for almost a week, Favreau said.

“It’s very important. It will help us to buy a lot of food for the Dew Drop Inn. Right now we’ve been trying to do healthy food, so we’ve been buying a lot of fruit, and stuff like that, to give to the people to make sure they have good, healthy food every day,” she said.

In addition to regular daily meals, the Dew Drop Inn is also planning a special turkey dinner with all the fixings, made possible thanks to a food donation from George’s Market and the tireless services of the organization’s volunteers.

“We bring them in and we wait on them and serve them,” Favreau said.

Monday’s donation by HMCS Griffon was collected through proceeds of a gala ball held earlier this year in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Canadian military.

Half of the money raised went to the Dew Drop Inn, the remainder to Military Family Resource Centre.