04/06/2026
April 6th. Can anyone guess the year? This was years ago, in my backyard in St. Catharines'.
The Cold Winter Shelters close April 1st. The others are always at capacity.
When the snow melts, it's a heck of a hike to feed the Encampments hot food from our insulated boxes. Super Muddy right now.
47% of food in Ontario is Wasted.
2/10 people in Niagara are skipping meals.
What started years ago as my wife and I aiming to share 30 meals per week, quickly hit 1000 per week.
We have shared over 100k FREE MEALS so far and our little Niagara Mushroom Army has swelled. Just neighbours helping neighbours.
Some notable events along the way:
Someone burnt down the last community fridge in St. Catharines.
Someone followed us in a jacked up truck revving their engines trying to intimidate through multiple food hand out stops then peeled away, tires screeching.
Someone pulled over and screamed at my niece for helping us hand out food.
Online comments like:
"Let the Winter take them away."
"YOU HAVE TOXIC EMPATHY!"
"You and your family are cockroaches. They should just get jobs."
And worse....plus calls to Public health, Fire and Bilaw because we are sharing soup and sandwiches with the streets.
But the coolest part?
We persisted. We keep growing.
I spoke at Townhalls, I delegated to council, I met with the Mayor a few times. I even recently had a call with Doug Ford.
The mushroom army is just getting started.
Full Spring Ahead.
MushLove!
🍄❤️🙏
