Feeding the hungry
It’s time to take a break from the playground of life that is sports, and focus on something much more important for a moment.
When Joe Feta’s co-owner Pierre Kountouris asked me to help out for a few hours with their annual New Year’s Day holiday meal. I quickly responded that, despite my busy schedule, I would do my best. However, 30 minutes later, I told him I would definitely be there and was honoured to have been asked.
After all, how can you turn down a request to help those who are going hungry?
Kountouris, who owns the St. Catharines restaurant with his sister, Cathy Kountouris-McCormack, opened his kitchen to prepare nearly 1,000 meals to be distributed to the unhoused in Niagara. Monday marked the meal’s fourth year and the second time it has been held on New Year’s Day.
According to an excellent story written by Metroland’s Dave Johnson, Kountouris says it’s a, “Generational responsibility and obligation to give back to the community.”
It is also a selfless, wonderful and generous gift to those in need by a classy and well respected member of the local business community.
I wasn’t sure what to expect as I pulled into Joe Feta’s parking lot on Lake Street, but I knew I wanted to be there. After all, it’s never wrong to do the right thing.
Once inside, I was met by a slew of familiar faces — Johnson, former junior B coach Rob Hubbert, fellow multi-media journalist Alison Langley and a handful of members of the St. Catharines Junior A Athletics — as well as many others who were there to do their part.
It didn’t take long to realize not only was I doing the right thing by lending a small hand, but how hard working and selfless the other volunteers and staff were.
Everyone was there to give back and help out. Not a discouraging word was uttered. In fact, camaraderie quickly developed in the kitchen as the meals were cooked, boxed up and dispensed.
Hubbert told some of his stories from the old days, while I had a nice talk with Johnson, and chatted with several others.
About three hours after we started, my part was done. More food was to be delivered, but those chores were already spoken for.
As I left and headed home to a refrigerator full of food, I realized how much of a honour it was to be a very minor part of the process.
Before I departed, a weary Kountouris joked he was going to spend the next day on the couch. I told him to take two days; it was more than deserved.
I don’t recall volunteering to do something like this before. So while this was my first time, it surely won’t be my last.
It was the perfect way to start 2024.
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