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Tokens for meals: A simple idea that is generating business and community support

April 18th, 2016 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized

picture 684bbanner pfr“We can’t just look at look at people who are homeless and say that is not my problem…we have a lot of homelessness here in Nanaimo and a lot of people that are hungry.”

Cheryl Prince and Liz Kawahara are the organizers of an initiative that brings hungry homeless people in downtown Nanaimo together with healthy meals from restaurants in the area. Their token program is fashioned after a similar initiative used by Save On Meats in Vancouver.

Finding a way to share food together

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The women hatched their idea during Christmas last year when they were thinking about how to give back to the community. “We wanted to find a way for students, family members, children and buskers to share food together,” they write on their Nanaimo Community website. “We wanted to find a restaurant which buys food from local farmers and  Gabriel’s Café, in downtown Nanaimo, agreed to participate. In Jan 2016, the tokens were given as a gift to Gabriel’s Café.”

We are segregating a group of people that already have mental health problems and that didn’t resonate with me very well. — Cheryl Prince, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Feb. 10, 2016)

Members of the public can buy a token for $5.50 at Gabriel’s Gourmet Café for a nutritious bowl of soup, at The Vault Café for a breakfast sandwich, or at The Thirsty Camel Café for a half falafel wrap, and then give the tokens to community members to redeem at a later date.

We can’t just look at look at people who are homeless and say that is not my problem because nobody knows when it is going to be their problem. We have a lot of homelessness here in Nanaimo and a lot of people that are hungry.  — Cheryl Prince, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Feb. 10, 2016)

The token idea can be expanded to other businesses

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Prince and Kawahara are hoping that other businesses in the community pick up on the token idea, reports the Nanaimo News Bulletin, adding that it has the potential to be implemented for all kinds of stores and restaurants.

We speak with Cheryl Prince and Liz Kawahara.

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