Homeless shelter gets creative with food truck securing its own stream of revenue

Construction crews moving connected a large condo operation task successful downtown Kelowna, B.C., person been flocking to a nutrient motortruck adjacent to the tract for breakfasts and lunches for the past respective months.

“Very, precise good.  Delicious bacon and everything connected this,” said operation idiosyncratic Cary Nikolaisen arsenic helium ate his meal sandwich during a speedy interruption Wednesday morning.

Unlike astir nutrient motortruck operations which are backstage ventures, this 1 is operated by a stateless shelter.

The Gospel Mission mounting up its nutrient tuck adjacent to the Water Street By The Park operation site, wherever 2 towers are being built.

“Operating a nutrient motortruck is not acold retired of our way,” said Gospel Mission enforcement manager Carmen Rempel. “We person a centralized room wherever we are providing implicit 700 meals a time anyways, truthful adding mentation to that, it’s a complimentary work that we tin crook into the societal enterprise.”

The Gospel Mission acquired 2 trucks done grants a mates of years ago.

One is being utilized arsenic an outreach conveyance but the different wasn’t being utilized to its afloat imaginable until now.

“The operation workers person been amazingly supporting it,” said Jeremy Luypen, the Gospel’s nutrient services manager. “Every time that it’s open, they come, they look guardant to it, and they’re blessed to enactment us.”

The wealth earned astatine the nutrient motortruck goes close backmost into the Gospel Mission’s  services.

“So that’s our outreach squad that’s gathering radical who are experiencing homelessness outside, arsenic good arsenic backing our transitional employment program,” said Rempel.

The nutrient motortruck has been operating astatine the operation tract since April and has proved rather profitable.

“In our archetypal quarter, archetypal 4th revenue, we made implicit $30,000,” Rempel said.

It is simply a important magnitude of wealth for a not-for-profit enactment that relies connected grants and nationalist donations to operate.

“Grant backing tin beryllium sporadic. We don’t cognize if it’s going to continue. It’s often short-term. It often has definite outcomes that whitethorn oregon whitethorn not align with the needs astir us,” said Rempel.

Trending Now

“Unrestricted funds that we tin usage to bring backmost into our programs is what we request to proceed connected into the future.”

The gross from the nutrient motortruck is besides benefitting the Gospel Mission’s employment program.

The further watercourse of gross has allowed the Gospel Mission to prosecute immoderate of its ain structure residents to beryllium hired to enactment successful the nutrient truck.

“It’s been truly awesome to spot that these radical that unrecorded with america present are having a accidental to summation employment and to conscionable beryllium capable to amusement up each time and commencement gathering a resume and gathering a enactment wont that they tin hopefully past determination connected to thing other down the road,” Luypen said.

The conception has been truthful successful, the enactment is already eyeing different operation projects erstwhile Water Street By The Park wraps up.