Local cafe owners offer free hot meals to those who can’t afford them

By Mike Anderson

The Elpida Cafe and Roastery in Uptown Keswick is serving up free hot meals to those in need through its new community pay-it-forward program.

As of November 21, customers can pre-purchase meals for people who can’t afford to eat out at a restaurant.

The receipts are displayed on a board near the entrance.

Some receipts feature a coffee and a bagel or steeped tea and banana bread. There are also grilled cheese sandwiches, paninis, and a daily soup.

“Anyone who can’t afford a meal, who’s hungry, can just come in, pick any pre-paid receipt, and bring it up to the counter,” said Amanda Zielonko, who co-owns Elpida with her husband, Justin.

“Then we just start the order, no questions asked, and they get a free hot meal.”

Zielonko says they came up with the idea after seeing restaurants in Aurora and Lindsay start similar pay-it-forward programs.

She says the programs are a response to growing food insecurity.

“Every year, food insecurity is becoming a bigger problem, especially with the high food inflation we’ve been seeing,” she said.

“The Georgina Food Pantry’s stats show a 25 per cent increase in people coming in for food. So we know there’s a big need.”

Zielonko hopes other restaurants in town will follow suit.

“The more restaurants that do this, the more options there are for people in need,” she said.

“Some people don’t have transportation, so getting here is difficult. It would be great if they could go to several places around town for a hot meal.”

“It would be amazing if this was adopted and became the new normal in Georgina.”

Zielonko has also set up a donation bin where customers can drop off non-perishable food items for the Food Pantry.

And they are donating 50 per cent of the profits from select bags of coffee.

“We call it our Charity Blend; it’s a pound of coffee we’ve created to help raise money for local charities. And we’re now doing this exclusively for the Food Pantry,” she said.

So far, Zielonko says only a few people have used the receipts to get a free hot-meal, but she’s expects that will change once the word spreads. She’s also promoting the program through her social media channels.

“We just hope people will be honest with it. We won’t ask any questions,” she said.

“We’re going to keep doing this as long as there’s a need for food.”

Zielonko says that if customers want to contribute, but can’t make it in, they accept credit cards over the phone or e-transfers to hello@elpidacafe.com. (Put “Paid Meals” in the notes).