After learning about an initiative in Alberta helping food banks and restaurants, Guelph's David Keogh was inspired to recreate the same initiative here in Guelph.
Keogh was listening to 104.1 The Dock when an announcer, Meg Whitton, shared the story of a realtor in Medicine Hat, Alta, named Torrey Mattson, who started an initiative called 40 hot meals.
“So I googled him (Mattson) and sent him an email saying, ‘I would like to have more information,’ and he called me right away,” said Keogh, the director of Freeze It Forward Guelph, “And we talked for a little while and I thought, ‘You know? This would be good for Guelph.’ We’ve got restaurants that are hurting and food banks that are in need of help.”
40 hot meals works by collecting public and corporate donations to help purchase frozen meals from local restaurants, which are then donated to food banks.
Keogh explains that 100 per cent of profits and meals are sent directly to restaurants and food banks, helping to decrease the financial strain on these organizations.
“It might make the difference of laying somebody off or not laying somebody off,” said Keogh.
Prior to this, Keogh had been collecting donations in exchange for repairing items for older tenants living in his downtown condo, calling that initiative.
Realizing that he could put these donations toward this initiative, Keogh said it makes his efforts come in full circle by launching this campaign and calling it Freeze It Forward Guelph.
“I thought, you know, if I get this other one going, Freeze It Forward, then all the money I make from my Random Act of Kindness job I can put into that,” explains Keogh, “and that was appealing to me as well, that one could feed the other.”
Since getting permission to run the event, Freeze It Forward Guelph has raised $1,200 and purchased 100 frozen meals which will be donated to the Guelph Food Bank on Thursday.
Keogh said they are aiming to provide 2021 meals to help make up for what a bad year 2020 was.
“2020 was such a terrible year that I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to go with 2021 as the goal with a fresh start, and maybe tie it to that,’” he said.
The first 100 meals are from Kelseys, but the next meals will come from other local restaurants who have also agreed to participate, including Atmosphere Cafe, Sugo on Surrey, Lucky Belly Restaurant and Montana’s.
Keogh mentions the first donation was made possible through his partner for Freeze It Forward Guelph, Karen Morris, whose Morris & Morris Private Wealth Management donated the first $1,000.
“We partnered with Kelseys. She knows the owners there, so she called them up and they said, ‘Yeah, we would love to help.’” Keogh said. “She signed up in a big way.”
Beside the donation, Morris also asked her colleague, Danielle Van Raalte, if she could provide marketing support for Freeze It Forward Guelph.
“She donated her time to do that, and that’s good too because it didn’t cost us to do anything,” he said.
As word continues to get around about Freeze It Forward Guelph, Keogh hopes more residents become interested in helping their community.
“I don’t know whether it will (take off) here or not,” he said “I know the one in Medicine Hat has taken off like crazy, they started before Christmas and they’re already up to $55,000 already.”
To make a donation or contact Keogh email [email protected].
