CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — When many Islanders found themselves without power in the days following post-tropical storm Fiona, some restaurants stepped up to provide people with hot meals at no cost.
Harneet Brar, owner of House of Spice in Summerside, woke up on Sept. 24 with no plans to open her restaurant, especially since the morning wind remained furious and the storm would not begin subsiding until the afternoon.
Still, she realized that if she was hungry, everyone else in the city likely was, too. Without electricity in most of the province, though, options for food, coffee and tea were limited.
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With her restaurant’s stove powered by propane, functional despite the outage, she could still cook for herself and her family. She quickly realized she was in a fortunate position – if she could provide her family with a hot meal and cup of tea, why not do the same for anyone who stopped in?
“We were like, let’s do it, let’s see how many people we can serve,” she said. “The food’s going to go to waste anyway.”
Via her restaurant’s Facebook group, Brar let people know that the kitchen was open. Before long, people filled the space in search of a bite to eat and a hot drink. Even more, to Brar’s surprise, a number stepped up to help cook and clean or even provide milk and potatoes.
“I was so happy to see that there are so many people in Summerside … who were here to help with cooking and cleaning,” she said. “Nobody had jobs that day. They were all off, they were all home and everybody had the same thought: that if we can eat here, we would like to help other people, too.”
It was not just those within walking distance or a short drive that took Brar up on her offer. Rather, Brar said people had travelled from as far away as Kensington, Alberton and Charlottetown in search of a warm meal.
“When we turned off the stove, it was 10:30 at night,” said Brar, adding that around 500 people walked through the doors that day.
The next day, with power still out in much of Summerside, Brar was up ready to do it again. This time, she said around 350 people stopped in.
“Even yesterday (Sept. 26) I went to Walmart and had a few people coming to me and saying, ‘thank you for doing this, we were hungry, we had no TV, we had no food,’ and finally, they were able to eat,” she said. “It just feels good that we were able to help.”
Meanwhile in Charlottetown, Sumitra Burke, owner of the Thai Pad P.E.I. food truck, was like many others across the Island – left with no power, a driveway blocked by trees and a fridge full of thawing food, including around 10 to 12 kg of chicken.
Not wanting to throw it all away, Burke got a drive from a neighbour to her food truck on Allen Street on Sept. 25, where she and a few good friends began preparing meals to give out for free.
“I really appreciated that my food truck was safe because the food truck is my life,” she said during an interview on Sept. 26.
“I came to check the fridge, and everything was fine, but I wanted to try to clear the fridge because there was no power here. So I wanted to give that away to people instead of throwing it away.”
After her friend shared what Burke was doing on Facebook, she said a lot of people began showing up. Burke said she didn’t realize how many people were out looking for food following the storm.
While the food Burke prepared was free to anyone who asked, many people offered her and her friends tips. In a Facebook post on Sept. 28, Burke said they used the tips to buy more food, allowing them to reopen for the day and continue offering people free food.
“I’m just so happy to help people,” she said.
Kristin Gardiner is a reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island. She can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @KristinGardiner.
Cody McEachern is a business reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @CodyInHiFi.
