This city claims it is doing (a) and (b); inadvertently or not, however, the masters of Toronto’s financial universe are doing (c).
I dropped by at lunch the other day to see my pal, Father Roberto. He is the modest genius whose mission, St. John The Compassionate, feeds and clothes the poor and provides real jobs in one of the best artisanal bakeries in the city.
The padre was in his office, looking at a new garbage and recycling bill that would ultimately cost St. John some $17,000 a year. The fee is one of those little things that slipped by unnoticed during the last budget process. Oh, no, not so fast: it slipped the notice of anyone with a heart.
Father Roberto said, “We feed about 100 people every day at lunch; also about 20 in the morning, and 20 snacks a day. We serve 3,000 meals a month.”
I smelled pasta Bolognese.
“Sometimes we have two sittings. In winter, there tend to be more people; the ones who live on the streets often line up at 5:30 a.m.; they are the ones who walk all night, they’re not part or the system, I never see them during the day.”