A feel good story from our neighbors up North and a reminder to find the good in all situations…

“Bad news turned into great news for the Gathering Place soup kitchen today after help from a local towing and transport company.

Yesterday morning a transport truck with a refrigerated trailer carrying a load of frozen pork, left the road near Rutherglen and tipped over.

Photo courtesy T.J Elzinga.

Today, instead of being wasted, some of that meat is going to feed North Bay’s hungry.

When Barlett’s Towing was told by the owner to dispose of the meat, they called around to see if at least some of it could be put to good use.

One of those places called was the Gathering Place…

This morning, Clark was happily picking up some of the meat.

‘It’s amazing. Lean, good quality protein is one of the largest expense items in our budget and so this means there is more money for milk and fruit and all the other things that we need to buy. We serve about 150 lunch meals a day, so that’s three or four roasts a meal. This meat will probably last us, assuming we don’t have pork everyday, about six months. It’s absolutely fabulous.’

Clark says the group doesn’t get this kind of donation very often, so when it does it’s ‘happy dance time’.

‘We got a great donation from the Wall (Education Centre) when it closed down for the season last year of 1,000 pure Angus beef burgers.’

‘The problem is people think that hunger means you have no food, but most of our guests are malnourished. They don’t get good quality food. So all the food we prepare is fresh, made from scratch and complies with the Canada Food Guide.’

So, thoughtfulness has turned a bad story into a good one.

‘In Canada we waste 35 billion dollars a year,’ said Clark. ‘There is no reason why anybody should be malnourished.’ ”

“Cultivate the art of maximizing serendipitous opportunities.”

-Gina Greenlee, Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road

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