What is your group's objective?
We're trying to keep people who live on the street fed. Life is hard enough, then you need a sandwich, you know?
How did the name Community Friends in Motion come about?
I think everybody in the community should be friends. And we're in motion, we take the food to them, we go look for them. They don't have to get anywhere, if we can find them, we will feed them. So we feed encampments, which are kind of hidden in the woods. We feed people who are walking down the streets who might stay in shelters, couch surf, or whatever. We have regulars that we meet at certain places at certain times. And then we also do a few shelters.
What would you say is the biggest challenge for your group right now?
For our group it's donations.
What are you most proud of? What's your biggest win?
Being able to still feed the homeless. So many people in Kingston want to help them. We might just be a few seniors who go out on the street, but we've got almost 3000 followers on Facebook. So I always say we're a small grassroots group, but I really feel like I'm lying. We're a huge group. We really are a bigger group than who you can see on the streets.
What does your volunteer base look like?
We run 100% on donations. Since we started, we pay for our own gas and we use our own time. And sometimes when things are low, we use our own money. I'm not gonna lie. We're not rich people at all. We live in housing ourselves, you know, it's just, we share what we can. We are so lucky to get the donations we get. I can't stress that enough. They have kept us going. And we actually work with other groups. And I think that's so important. If you look up Gnome for a Home, Lylia is 15 and she is our largest supporter. She pays for pizza every Friday. When she was 12, she wrote a letter to the mayor saying that she wanted to help the people on the streets. And she has been serving pizza to the homeless every Friday for 163 Fridays, and a Friday costs her $100. She is donation-based as well. She draws cards and sells them in order to buy the pizza. So we made a deal with her a few years ago. We'll get the food out. We'll supply pop, cupcakes, and a snack with her pizza.
If people wanted to volunteer with you, do you usually make food from your own houses?
Yeah, we use our own place, our own grandchildren, and neighbors to make food. We do help some students get their hours. I prefer that you're 18 or older if you’re volunteering with us on the street. To work on the street is hard. It's hard to bring a new volunteer in. And then to have the people we serve get used to them. I know that sounds odd. But a lot of vulnerable people don't trust just anyone. So we do try and take precautions, but we're friends with them all now. So I never worry. It’s about gaining their trust because we're in their house when we're on the streets. We make sure to always talk to everyone and tell everyone to be safe, have a good day, do your best to stay dry, and things like that. We ask if there’s something they need next week, for example, something they’ve been craving. We trust them and they trust us. If there's been an altercation around our vehicle, the homeless will step up and stop it. And hey, it's because they call us the food truck. So there's never a problem around the food truck.
If it is a four-day weekend, we are there all four days, because the other groups are working all week and they need a break. So we try and commit our time and our people to when things are closed when it's a holiday. On my birthday in May, I go out and I have a party on the street. I say we're celebrating everyone's birthday. So one year we did milkshakes, one year, we did chocolate and I will do it again this year. I will go out and say happy birthday to everyone so that they all get their special day.
How do you keep going through the burnout? And how do you motivate yourself to keep doing this work?
You know, we see volunteers come and go, we see donors come and go. We treat a death of a donor the same as a death of a person on the street. Some days are really hard. I've come home and cried. We are not rich people. We are humble, as humble as we can be. We had a donation within the last month from a family that doesn't have a lot. And they made up sandwiches and all sorts of treats and even brought a couple of cases of water. And it was a family of four kids, two adults. And I said that's the largest donation that we've had in a long time. It's not about the dollar amount. It's about teaching your children to do the right thing and the fun that family would have had making that up means more to us. Yes, they provided maybe 20 meals, we take 140 meals every time we go out minimum. If you phoned me and said I want to give you a meal for one person we'll make the other 139 with our donations. Good for you. So we take the people who donate and the children, seniors, whoever, donations very seriously. Yeah, we see the cost. It's about the kindness in the donation. It's not about the dollar value ever. And we don't carry Bibles. We don’t force them to listen to whatever. I never have said to them, if you want a meal, I'm going to take your picture. We don't do that. Yeah, we say, do you want your picture taken? You know, I also yell, if you have a warrant or you’re wanted or whatever, turn around, I'm taking a picture. And they will. And they know we respect them. We've all made mistakes. I'm old. I've made lots. I don't want that thrown in my face all the time. So we respect the people we serve. People are people. Blood is pumping through them the same as you and I, that's what they are. Did they fall into an addiction or mental health problem? Or no money? Yeah. But how many people are one paycheck away? So I respect each and every person we serve. We all do and if you don't, you're not a part of our team.
Can I ask how people can donate to you?
If there's something specifically you want to give, we have two drop-off locations. And we also accept e-transfers. And we accept meals, but nothing hot. For any donation we just need a little bit of notice, like if you're giving food, we need to know a couple of days before so we can alter our numbers or prepare. Some people specifically, will say I want to give 50 bags of chips, and that's okay. They want to spend their own money and see the supplies dropped off. And that's perfectly fine. You know, we're not registered, so I can't give a receipt for a donation. But the homemade items and things that come in are amazing. So we try and get it out to people quickly. I'm gonna say that we're pretty good at getting donations out the next day, but at least in the same week. So if it's knit socks or whatever, and it's winter, we'll get that out. We want you to see it in our truck going out and hitting the road.
What's the point?
I've never had this many friends in my life. That's the point. There are probably 800 homeless people in Kingston right now. And I can call the majority of them my friends. And that's the point. And I'm equal to them. I will sit in encampments when we make hot dogs, they will cook us hot dogs first and say eat with us. And we will sit down and eat with them. I'll sit on a bench and talk to people forever. They're people. They're our neighbors. Doesn't everybody need friends? Yeah. So yeah, that's our objective to make everybody feel wanted and that they have a friend.
What would you say to someone who isn’t as empathetic toward people who are stigmatized?
Just go out on the street with me one day, just one day. And I think they'll change their minds. I really, really do.
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