“Hope is good infrastructure” indeed when it comes to being able to create a commercial kitchen to feed those in need of a hot meal in Peterborough.
One City Peterborough has announced renovations for its existing kitchen at the Trinity Community Centre on Reid Street are underway, as a result of achieving its $204,000 fundraising goal. One City Peterborough expects the renovations will be finished by the end of the summer.
With the theme of the fundraiser being “Hope is good infrastructure,” One City’s fundraising coordinator Mackenzie Clark told kawarthaNOW, “our community has truly demonstrated that it is in fact, true. Each and every individual, group and business has given us so much hope.”
Trinity Community Centre offers year-round drop-in and winter overnight services for people who are marginalized and/or unsheltered, along with other supports and programs.
Trinity has been, with its partners including Kawartha Food Share and All Saints Church, providing 150-plus meals per day for the community. However, the lack of a commercially certified kitchen at the centre means One City has been limited with how it can prepare food in the space.
“We are so grateful for all of the churches, groups, and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to help us cook and prepare meals in off-site commercial kitchens over the last seven months,” Clark noted.
Being able to renovate the kitchen will enable Trinity to prepare hot and nutritious meals right on site, Clark said.
“We recognize how challenging it has been to cook and prepare 150 to 200 meals each day without having a commercial kitchen on site at Trinity. Having a renovated commercial kitchen will allow us to cook meals on site and bring in volunteers to prepare and serve meals like they once did at One Roof when the meal program was hosted there.”
“It will be such a relief for all of our staff, volunteers, and guests.”
Clark said One City Peterborough is “thrilled” to have already reached its financial goal.
“We didn’t expect to reach it so quickly, since we only began the fundraiser in June. It benefited us to have a significant amount of the funds already raised to begin with before making the fundraiser public, but we are blown away by the support that our community has given us to reach the goal in just under two months.”
“Capital campaigns are often daunting when the number to achieve is so high, but our community stepped up in huge ways to make it happen in such a short period of time.”
With the money raised, Trinity can now embark on larger and more challenging projects, such as having work completed on the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing components of the renovation. During this time, Trinity kitchen staff can still prepare food for the community under current guidelines, but with limited space due to the renovations.
One City Peterborough is a non-profit charitable organization that operates on the belief “that everyone belongs and it is together that we flourish.” The Trinity Community Centre is a collaboration between the City of Peterborough, One City Peterborough, the United Way Peterborough and District, and the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network (PPRN).
PPRN bought the Trinity United Church property in 2022 after the church congregation, experiencing low attendance numbers and facing severe repair costs for the building, voted to disband. While the property wasn’t publicly listed for sale, PPRN learned of its availability and entered negotiations to purchase it.
The United Way provided One City with $200,000 in federal homelessness funding for renovations to the building. One City Peterborough also received $50,000 from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough for the renovations, which included new washrooms and showers as well as a new HVAC system, with beds donated by Peterborough Regional Health Centre. The City of Peterborough is providing One City with $900,000 each year for three years to operate the winter overnight drop-in space and the year-round daytime drop-in centre.
