It’s an honour to rise today to speak about an incredible program in my riding of Niagara Centre: the Holy Trinity breakfast program. This Thursday, December 1, the breakfast program, which serves meals daily to those in need, will be celebrating its first anniversary.

I was honoured to join the hard-working volunteers serving breakfast when they first launched this program last year. The success of the program can be attributed to the over 200 dedicated volunteers and countless supporters in the community.

Holy Trinity is also getting ready to host their sixth annual Christmas dinner program. Last year, they handed out over 330 meals to those in need and are preparing to hand out over 400 this year.

Beyond the Streets, an organization I have mentioned many times, works in collaboration with the Holy Trinity breakfast program by finding those experiencing homelessness and connecting them to the program. However, with rising inflation and stagnant wages, donations are becoming more scarce. Holy Trinity Anglican Church food bank coordinator Mary Ellen DuPon recently stated, “We can’t just rely on our parishioners any longer ... We’ve never had to do this before, but in changing times we have to change with them ... We have reserves, but we’re knocking them back.”

Anyone who would like to volunteer or learn more can contact them on Facebook or through their email at holytrinitywelland@cogeco.net.

I hope the members of this House will join me in congratulating Holy Trinity on a successful first year of their program and thanking their dedicated and passionate volunteers. Their community spirit and compassion is truly inspiring and changing lives in Welland.