Sunday Dinner at the Lighthouse

I sure that many people have memories of Sunday dinner as the big family meal; everyone sitting around the table sharing what happened during the week or what they plan to do for the week ahead, camaraderie and lots of gut-busting food. Perhaps a few of us do that with our own families, still.

When I realized a year and a half ago that every weekend would be spent at the Salvation Army Lighthouse, I decided that I wanted to recreate that special kind of Sunday dinner for the residents. While some of the people who live with us have contact with family and friends, a larger portion have been turned out from family homes and disconnected from friendships due to issues surrounding their addictions or mental health. What better way to reconnect them with a sense of normalcy and boost their spirits for the week ahead than an old-fashioned Sunday dinner?

The Lighthouse has a small budget to help us purchase food when needed, so I usually spend Saturday nights pouring over food flyers, mapping out a meal plan for the next evening.

This week, I was in luck: two of the stores on my route to the shelter had great deals. At the first place I found 8 cobs of corn for $1 and at the second, whole chickens were on for $5 — better still, the meat manager let me take an extra dollar off the price as I explained to him why I was buying more than the limit.

Back to the shelter. After putting out snack (fresh-baked cookies, watermelon slices, ice cream and carrot sticks & dip), I filled two large pots with water, some vinegar and sugar and put to warm. Then, I butterflied the chickens at the breast bone, flattened them, dusted them with season salt and jerk spice and threw them on the barbecue. Rain started spattering, so I rolled the unit under an awning.

Getting a nice char and some smoke on the nine birds, and considering the rain, I decided to let them finish in the oven — they’d end up more moist that way, anyways.  To un-flatten an flattened chicken, I grabbed some oregano from my herb garden and pulled some lemons we normally use for fish Fridays. Poking holes in the lemon, with a tuft of oregano on top, I wrapped the chicken around it so it looked like a normal roasting chicken, breast down. Roasting with the lemon inside would give a nice citrus finish to the taste of the meat. Just to bring it out further, I zested and juiced some limes and added a touch of honey to make a finishing glaze.

Next, I set the pots to boil and tossed the shucked cobs of corn in. So that was protein and a starch of the way; I needed greens.

In the freezer, I spotted two bags of green beans, not enough for all the residents, but I recalled a dish my grandfather often made for breakfast on his farm in the Netherlands. Pulling my mandoline from my knife kit I shaved some potatoes into slices and julienned spanish onions.  Fry the onions in butter, set aside in a hotel pan. Fry the potatoes in the same pan adding butter with some cracked pepper, add to onions. Toss the green beans, slightly thawed, into the same pan, allowing the moisture from the beans to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the tasty charred parts and fry in some butter with crushed garlic. Toss together with the onions and potatoes and place in a warming rack.

I still had romaine from the other day, I managed to get some half-decent tomatoes from the Food For Life truck and there were still carrots and celery in the fridge, so I had a salad.

To add a gut-busting element, I took some donated croutons, moisturized them with chicken broth and added some sautéed celery, onions and sage; stuffing.

And finally, Joe — one of our older residents who has a connection with a local Portuguese bakery — brought in some fresh rolls.

And there it was: Quarter Jerk Chicken with honey-lime glaze, Corn on the Cob, Grandpa’s green bean blend, stuffing, fresh salad and warm rolls.

When I went into the dining hall to announce that there was enough for seconds, everyone hooted and applauded and asked for me to sit with them for a while. And why not, I thought, most of the pots and pans were already cleaned, I had time.

Siting at the table I realized that these smiling faces around me were very much like a family to me.  Our paths may cross for only three months at the most, but getting to know them — listening to how these people had been through so many terrible circumstances, how they’re working to get their lives back in order, sharing their frustrations over setbacks and high-fiving good news — you build a connection. We may not be a family by blood but for now, today, we’re a family by circumstance. Ending the week, sharing a laugh and the table with family, that’s what makes a Sunday dinner.

Yesterday I mentioned that I’d have a list of things specific to the needs of the Lighthouse.  I say specific, because we take the same dry and canned goods as other places — and often if we have more than we need, we share with other food banks in the area.

The Salvation Army Lighthouse is a bit of a different animal from other places because of our resident population and the fact we’re open every day.  Essentially, if it’s edible, wrapped and in good condition, you can drop it off at 750 Redwood Square between 7AM to 7 PM, 7 days a week.

If you have a social gathering, a party, a back yard barbecue and you have extra stuff – don’t throw it out, we’ll take it.  In certain circumstances, I’ll even pick up.  For example, the kitchen at the Burlington Convention Centre had made more food than was needed for a company’s Christmas party, so the head chef called and said that if I came to the receiving door around 11 PM, he’d have trays of roast beef, roasted vegetables, saffron chicken, gnocchi and pumpkin ravioli — only if I was interested. I was at their door at 10:45 PM and the residents at the Lighthouse ate gourmet food for a week following.

Another time, Ann Mulvale had finished her birthday party and discovered that there was a lot of leftover beef, sausages and boxes of apples (I never asked what the apples were for, cake alternative?).  One call to me at 10:30 PM and I was at the door of her birthday venue 20 minutes later loading up my little car. Again, the residents ate well for a week.  I’ve even picked up food when someone in the community calls and asks something along the lines of “could you use a rib roast?”

So, to summarize this long story, we take dry goods, we take fresh food and we share what we don’t need with other food banks.  But if you want specifics when it comes to what we need, use and go through day to day, here’s the list:

Perishable goods:

  • whole chickens
  • beef roasts
  • pork (roast, chops, sausage, bacon)
  • cheese
  • lunch meat
  • frozen veggies

Non-perishable goods:

  • white flour
  • breakfast cereal
  • salad dressings
  • condiments (ketchup, mayo, bbq sauce)
  • pickles
  • sugar
  • coffee (ground, in tins)
  • regular tea
  • chicken or beef broth in Tetra Paks.

Miscellaneous:

  • shaving kits
  • toothpaste
  • deodorant
  • soap
  • laundry detergent

And since people have asked before, yes, we’ll also take pre-paid grocery cards if you prefer to leave the shopping to us.

So I hope that helps the many people who ask me what we’ll take (almost anything, really) and what we need.

One last story. Shucking 36 cobs of corn in a store this morning, a woman asked me if the shelter would be interested in some cake shavings from her wedding cake business.  I instantly thought of making fruit trifles, smiled and, while giving her my card, said “we’d love it and anything else you can think of.”

Anything.

Marc.

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Saturday in the Lighthouse

Well, last night’s Movies in the Park with Jeff and Marc went well, and with people still hungry late into the evening I ended up barbecuing by streetlight.

I love the Movie in the Park event, especially as it was great to connect with people from the community and put faces to the email addresses of so many people I’ve helped. My only regret: I was so busy that I didn’t get to see the movie.

I hope to post some pictures when my Ward-mate and friend, Councillor Jeff Knoll sends them my way.

The evening went later than expected and so once home, I threw myself into bed as I had to be up early to get at my weekend duties in the kitchen at the Salvation Army Lighthouse.

I had some great soaps to give the Lighthouse residents courtesy of my friend Tina AKA @LusciousBubblez, which put a great start to the day to see so many thankful faces sniff the soaps, while oohing and ahhing at the textures. (Thanks, Tina.)

We had a number of new residents rotate in this week, who gathered around and jokingly told me that I’d better be as good a cook as they heard — or else.  And they must have been pretty serious in wanting a good meal — 24 of our 30 residents had signed up for meals, rather than making me go through my usual morning ritual of tracking them down and having to ask them if they planned to eat with us.

Clipboard in hand it was to the kitchen. I bought some fresh buns on sale on the way down to the shelter and remembered that I had some donated shaved roast beef put aside in the large freezer. Looking through the produce donations, I found some red onions and peppers and a plan was forming. To the cheese reserves: a small block of havarti and a larger one of cheddar.

The sliced beef went into a pan with some water, beef broth and worcestershire sauce and into the oven on high heat to thaw. The fresh buns cut open and pulled apart, set on a large tray. Onions and peppers were julienned and sautéed with butter, cracked pepper and salt. The two cheeses, grated together, with some dry parmesan cheese sprinkled in to add sharpness and texture. Then, I combined some low-fat mayo that was donated last week with dijon mustard and worcestershire sauce to make a creamy spread.

So, beef from the oven, two slices on the bun, a smattering of the onions and peppers, a dollop of the spread and a heavy sprinkling of cheese, repeat 32 times.  Yes, we had 24 sign ups, but I always make a few extra in case we get an unexpected drop-in or if some of our residents with larger appetites are looking for seconds. Pop the tray (turned out to be two trays, actually) into the oven at 350°F and bake for 20 minutes.

For a side dish — there were some romaine heads donated, some cooked pasta in tupperware and I still had a few onions and peppers left. I looked at the mayo and mustard and knew that if I combined all this together with some fresh celery and celery seed, we’d get an awesome pasta salad.

So there we go: Faux Philly sandwiches with pasta salad. A glimmer in the back of my mind at 10:45 and hot/cold on the plate by noon.

According to the new people, I had successfully lived up to my reputation, as espoused by the longer-term residents and staff. Hearing the many compliments and seeing them all sitting together, sharing stories and laughing, I forgot how tired I was from the night before and I stopped worrying about the six hours I still had on my feet because, suddenly, I was walking on air.

I allowed myself a rare moment to savour the scene of this “family” gathering before turning my attention back to the hot kitchen: snack time and dinner were looming on the horizon and I’d better be ready. After all, I had a reputation to uphold.

I intend to post a blog on what we need donated at the shelter, Tamara AKA @WonderMoms_ca keeps asking me to, and I’ll get to it soon. The Lighthouse is a bit different in that we take fresh good and do so 7 days a week from 7 AM to 7 PM.

Summer is a tough time for food banks and shelters, every little bit you can share from your home to others in the community counts now more than ever.

I’ll provide more insights into how I spend my weekends at the Lighthouse kitchen as well as further info on donations tomorrow.

Marc.

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So, that happened…

Yesterday the skate park at West Oak Trails was removed without, it seems, notice to the skater community.  Because of that, two young people were ticketed with interference because they hated to see their park taken away. It’s a frustration I can understand.

I’ve been fielding many calls — and not just from Ward 5 residents — over the removal of the park since I was one of the few who felt we could have used more community consultation with the youth rather than cave in to the demands of a handful of ‘NIMBYS’ as the skater community calls them.

I still can’t help but feel that if the Vandalism and Rowdiness report I requested (twice) had been funded earlier in the year, the first time around, we could have had the tools to keep the park for the enjoyment of all and discourage the few bad apples which caused stress for the neighbours.

Council made a huge mistake here, and while I understand people should learn from their mistakes, it’s unfortunate that this lesson comes at the expense of needed facilities for youth in North Oakville.

In happier news, everything is a ‘go’ for the Movies in the Park with Jeff and Marc event. Along with great food from M&M’s Sixth Line we also have Mangiamo Pizza Buffet supplying fresh-made pies throughout the evening.  I’ll be manning the grill, so pop by and say hello.

As well, I’ve had confirmation to use Coronation Park for the event to raise awareness of the less fortunate in Oakville, ‘Sleeping in the Park’. With that, I’m now working at getting the Salvation Army’s huge rolling kitchen with outdoor grill to serve those who attend.  It’ll be fun and moderately-priced ticketed event.

Getting Up to Date

Sorry for the lack of blog posts; I’ve been so busy between Council work, doing community business, helping with charity events, cooking and planning meals in my role as House Cook at the Salvation Army Lighthouse Shelter, etc. that I’m way behind.

So to get us up to date, let me do this: thanks to Oakville.com here’s some posts on my concerns with the skate park and my two-pronged plan (second time around) for the vandalism and rowdiness initiative. Click on this for skateparks and this for my two-pronged Vandalism and Rowdiness initiative.

Everyone who knows me knows I’m elbows deep in the mire of Town and Ward 5 issues, ensuring we have a voice in the community for all the issues I’ve raised and have hand in. If you have an issue or disagree, it’s allowed in comments.

Along with this, I want to thank, continue to monitor and express pleasure over the involvement of residents in the growing issue of the usage of school property in the area for sporting events.

By the way, I’m working on an event called ‘Sleeping in the Park’ to help raise funds for homeless issues in Oakville, It’ll hopefully be on September 24th and I’ll post more as I have more details.  We need your help, over 1200 people get sent away from the community yearly because we lack resources.

So that’s it from me, now.

Namaste, Marc.

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Garage Sale to Help Julian

A Garage Sale will be held Saturday, June 12 from 8 AM to 2 PM at 1531 Sixth Line to help a young man, Julian, deal with sudden, tragic circumstances of losing a parent.

From Kathleen, the organizer:

“Julian is a 13-year-old boy who has lost his mother Susie.

Susie and Julian have been part of my extended family for many years and I love them dearly.  Susie Rotenberg passed away tragically and suddenly, she was a friend and neighbor. Susie was a single mother with no savings or insurance we are all devastated with her loss.

Contents of their home and donated items from neighbors and friends will be sold along with coffee, homemade baked goods, lemonade and BBQ hotdogs.

100% of all proceeds will go to Julian.”

The Flyer they are posting throughout the community is here: COMMUNITY YARD SALE FOR JULIAN

 

There’s No Future in Pushing Youth Away

Oakville Council has agreed to move a skate park out of West Oak Trails to an area across the highway to the isolated Palermo Park and I think it was a short-sighted decision with larger implications.

To get the detailed background out of the way: the story has been fairly covered by Oakville.com, the Oakville Beaver and Oakville Today, so read that at your leisure and I’ll continue to fill in from my point of view.

Sitting at the Community Services Committee on May 26th, I witnessed a thoughtful, honest debate from both sides of this issue — home owners and the skateboarder community. As an aside, the skateboarders were aged from 5 to 29 and it was fun to watch when an 8-year-old returned to the audience, he was high-fived by a 20-year-old, just as a 5-year-old- high-fived a 19-year-old later on; this truly was a community where age or skill didn’t matter, just a love for the sport and the park they shared.

The discussion that night lead me to believe that with input from the Police, these two groups could work together and find a way to keep the skate park yet curb the after-hours abuses of it.  The option of moving to Palermo Park kept coming up, but only one representative from the skateboard community — a mother who had a petition of 200 asking us not to move the park, but spoke only on her own behalf — seemed to agree it might be a solution, since she and her husband would often accompany her young children, driving them as necessary.

So I was deeply troubled on June 1st, when debate continued at Council, that only the home owners’ representative attended.  Without input from the Police or the skateboarders, the entirety of Council really only got to see one facet of the situation and, despite some efforts to defer the matter for more information, made their decision based on that.

Listening to my respected colleagues on Council, there seems to be a belief that we reached a great compromise. But consider: was it really a compromise or have we done a disservice to the youth of our community by rushing to a decision?

After quoting me for their article, Oakville.com had asked me explore my position in their comments section and, after I did, I thought I might repeat it here.  I mean, this is supposed to be my blog, after all, even if I keep ignoring it…

So, to clarify: I don’t think the home owners should have to put up with after-hours activities at the skate park. However, I also feel that the kids who enjoyed and respectfully used the facility shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few bad apples.

By simply opting to move the skate park, I believe many of my fellow councillors missed an opportunity to get the home owners, the Police and the skateboard community (ages 8 to 28) to work together and a find real solution to this problem. Simply moving the park to an out-of-sight out-of-mind location was reactionary and not visionary, setting a bad precedent should we face a similar situation down the road.

This time we move a skate park. And I have to ask what’s next: basketball courts, open soccer pitches any field where we hear too much noise? Will our kids lose places within safe cycling distance where they can catch a quick pick-up game or exercise because a few irresponsible youth decide to use these places for after-hours gatherings?

In June 2006, the Parks, Recreation, Culture & Library Master plan agreed that we needed to incorporate these types of park activities into communities because they were ‘underserved’ with youth facilities. And I think our kids would agree: ask most of them and they’ll tell you that that there’s “nothing to do in Oakville” or, if there is something to do, they have to travel too far to get there.

So, in the long run, no one wins when we push the opportunity for non-organized youth activity away from our neighbourhoods to under-populated, unsupervised areas.

The knee-jerk reaction of moving these kinds of parks is easy and serves only a few. The longer, harder but more rewarding path would have been to gather as a community and work through a resolution that serves the respectful majority while deterring the minority who break the rules.

Booking for organized activities at our Recreation Centers in Oakville have a ‘youth first’ policy; Council has defended this policy time and again.  I maintain we need to be just as vigilant and work together to protect a youth first mentality in creating and maintaining safe, close-to-home, free-play activities and spaces for youth within our communities.

Rather than seeing these as encumberments, we need to gather together and incorporate these outdoor facilities into our neighbourhoods so we can encourage raising a healthy community while discouraging unwelcome behaviour.

And two final thoughts:  first, the report which outlined the cost for moving the skate park to Palermo also noted that the skate part itself may not fit into the long-term build-out for the entire park itself.  That is, the move is likely temporary, lasting a few years, so where do the skateboarders go after that?

Second, the decision to remove the skate area to a site with an uncertain future was made on June 1st, the first day of Parks and Recreation month where we encourage our citizens and youth to “Get Active Your Way, Every Day”. Ironic.

 

Read Doug Mackenzie’s well-considered piece here. I hope we can build upon this so other communities in the GTA see this as a real problem and not just NIMBYism.

C4CA continues to be a strong community partner for the people of Oakville.

 

Some questions about the new Hospital

So under the subject of things that weigh on my mind…

Both Jeff Knoll and I fully support the idea of a new Hospital, but as we run up to decision day to vote with Council to allow $200 million (or more) from the taxpayers go forward, we still had some questions.

Here’s the letter we jointly submitted to Ray Green, Oakville’s CAO, and John Oliver, President of Halton Healthcare Services Corporation.

Knoll & Grant ask Questions about the Hospital

Let us know what you think, email either Jeff or me.

 

And in other news, yes, I’m running again.

From the Ultramodern, Plush Offices of Marc Grant (aka the Basement).

So if you’ve just found yourself on the shores of my revised blog, you probably know that I’ve chosen to run again in the 2010 Election, so I can continue serving and representing the needs and wishes of my neighbours who comprise the community of Ward 5 (and, obviously, the rest of Oakville, too).

I’ll blog the whys eventually but, in the meantime, does anyone remember where December and January went? The final weeks of November were alike to the slow period of travelling up the incline of a roller coaster with December being the swoop down, followed by the fast turns, crazy loops, blurred activity and screams of excitement to finally leave me out of breath and dizzy at the gate of 2010.

Well, at least I have a few interesting memories from last months. The Ward 5 tree lighting went without a hitch — thanks to major sponsors in the form of the Oakville Fire Department, Oakvlle.com, Oakville Place, Tim Horton’s M & M Meats (6th Line) and Encore Theaters (aka Jeff Knoll) — we had about 100 families, fewer than before, but it was on the Thursday before the last day of school, so, lesson learned.

In early December, Council was faced with an ask to provide $200 million from the taxpayers to help fund the the new hospital.  Both Jeff Knoll and I thought we needed more public consultation, especially on this issue which would require a major dip into funds of our taxpayers. Facing a short time frame, we I split up tasks; I endeavoured to speak with fellow Councillors and was pleased to find agreement with them that we should ask the Hospital Board to wait for a decision until we heard from the people we’re privileged to represent.  No question, the Board did a great job providing information and took the matter as far as they could, but it remains the role of Town Council to actively seek input and open discussion from our community.  The unanimous vote from Council to defer the decision was a great moment in open government.

I look forward to a new hospital — we really need it — I just hope we can all find a way to get it built without the full burden of cost placed on the people of Oakville.

As well, in late December, Council made a decision to get public input for a bylaw to help us assess and control major emissions of fine particulate matter from any facility located in Oakville. The Town’s Environmental Strategic Plan was started in the 2000s and we’re continuing the work towards meeting its goals; it was good to see such an important subject under consideration just as the decade ended.

January was all about catching up on business from the holidays and getting the ball rolling on issues which I started considering last year.

And, yes, I’m signed up to run again.  There are large issues facing Oakville and small issues facing our neighbourhoods I’ve been been working on, watching over and worrying about.

But rather than breezing over them now, I’ll write about them as they come forward.  Stay tuned.

 

Heroes in Every Sense (Updated)

Oakville Fire Chief Boyes welcomes our firefighters to the Oakville Fire Department Awards Ceremony.

Oakville Fire Chief Boyes welcomes our firefighters to the Oakville Fire Department Awards Ceremony.

As the year heads to an end, it’s been another busy week where I’ve felt breathless to keep up.  However, by far the best event was the Oakville Fire Department Awards Ceremony.  I realize that our community appreciates our firefighters — especially during the most difficult times — but I really wish more people knew of their work between emergencies. Perhaps in future I can get a full list to demonstrate everything they’ve done to enrich Oakville.

The entire assembly of Oakville’s Fire Department does so much to contribute to the Town through food/toy drives, personal charity work and fundraisers and yet do it in such a quiet, selfless fashion it looks completely effortless.  In every sense of the word, Oakville’s firefighters are heroes — examples for the rest of us.

And while every firefighter deservers our thanks, special congratulations go out to Jody Walker who won Oakville’s Firefighter of the Year award.  When accepting the award for the huge volume of volunteerism he does, he aksed everyone to work harder in finding ways to support the community, stating “If you’re not thinking big, you’re not thinking hard enough”.

In a busy, crazy week, being able to share the room with Oakville’s Fire Department (many had to miss so they could watch over our safety) was a great honour and reminder of what’s important: serving those in need.

UPDATE

Ward 5 Regional and Local Councillor Jeff Knoll took some video of the Oakville Professional Fire Fighters Association President Carmen Santoro outlining the many things Jody Walker achieved this year…