![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/BZO7Y2A7P5D5DNMVFHGOGPT3EE.jpg\")
Good shepard Volunteers preparing meals at the Good Shepard Ministries. (Jon Woodward.) <\/p>\nWhile many spend Thanksgiving with family and friends, others are giving back and helping those in need.\u00a0 Jon Woodward reports. <\/p>\n
Charities around Toronto opened their doors to those less fortunate something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving: a delicious hot meal and a sense of community.<\/p>\n
At Toronto\u2019s Scott Mission and the Good Shepherd Ministries hundreds of people patiently waited to be served, many of them grateful for the programs that are helping them get back on their feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful just for the roof over my head. I\u2019m thankful for the peaceful sleep that I\u2019m able to have here. I\u2019m thankful for everything,\u201d said Tudor Ciobanu, one of about three hundred people digging into a turkey dinner at the Scott Mission.<\/p>\n
For those who couldn\u2019t dine in, volunteers filled reusable shopping bags with containers of salads, snacks and turkey.<\/p>\n
According to Scott Mission manager Aldo Hernandez, the goal is to make people regain their dignity and feel like they are part of a community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe experience, for them, to know that they are human beings, that we care for them, that there\u2019s people who love them, no matter what,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n
At Good Shepherd Ministries, residents volunteered to turn what is normally a cafeteria to a sit-down dinner for 1600 people.<\/p>\n
Valerie Skinner, whose late brother was helped by the Good Shepard Ministries, helped put food on plates and loaded up trays that were taken to tables, saying she was here because of a personal connection.<\/p>\n
Good shepard Volunteers preparing meals at the Good Shepard Ministries. (Jon Woodward.) <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my brother was alive, the Good Shepherd helped my brother when he was struggling with addiction. I want to give back. I love to give back to this community, and I find this is an opportunity where I can,\u201d Skinner said.<\/p>\n
One person eating at the Scott Mission was Dr. Richard Hart, who was last licensed as a surgeon in Ontario in 2023.<\/p>\n
In an interview with CTV News, Hart said he was defrauded of everything in a business deal, and started sleeping in the streets and parks since May.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is the day of Thanksgiving, so I\u2019m not going to dwell on what happened. I\u2019m going to give thanks for everybody here who took care of me when they heard my story and gave me a place to sleep,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The number of people needing services like this is on the rise, according to Good Shepherd\u2019s Executive Director, Akilu Wedaferew.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the demand is increasing. A lot of people are depending really for their daily necessities on places like Good Shepherd Ministries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Scott Mission\u2019S Chief Executive Officer, Rocky Dundas, said there are plenty of pressures including rising grocery prices and rent that having him seeing more clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s food insecurity. It\u2019s shelter. It\u2019s clothing. It\u2019s protection. All of those concerns are rising, and we see it \u2013 we\u2019re at capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Several reports in late 2026 highlighted the challenges facing Ontario.<\/p>\n
Ontario\u2019s Financial Accountability Office estimates the province\u2019s homeless population rose 23 per cent since 2022.<\/p>\n
Public Health Ontario found that nearly a quarter of Ontario households are food insecure.<\/p>\n
And as for income assistance, Food Banks Canada gave Ontario a \u201cD-\u201c on poverty experience, and an \u201cF\u201d for poverty measures, saying disability welfare gets a recipient to just 54.7 per cent of the poverty line.<\/p>\n
Ciobanu said he was tired of living in his car and was grateful for the help from Scott Mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t keep eye contact with us. It\u2019s very dehumanizing. This place, Scott Mission, makes me feel human again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While many spend Thanksgiving with family and friends, others are giving back and helping those in need.\u00a0 Jon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-931192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}