Community Drop-in celebrates its 20th anniversary

Jeff Green | Oct 19, 2016

On a normal Wednesday, at least for 50 or so weeks a year, there is a boisterous gathering at St. Andrew's Church hall in Sharbot Lake at noon.

Twenty to 30 people gather to share lunch and help clean up afterwards. They laugh and eat and visit and clean up and then they are on their way.

Last week on October 12, the Community Drop-in celebrated 20 years and about 1,000 lunches, and while people have come and gone over that time there has been one constant, Mike Procter.

Procter runs the Adult Protective Services worker program at Northern Frontenac Community Services, and when he started the Community Drop-In his idea was to move beyond his own agency, to work with local churches and other agencies to develop a Drop-In for the entire community.

Procter works with a vulnerable clientele, many of whom are developmentally disabled, and works in concert with Community Living North Frontenac, a key partner in the Drop-In to this day.

However, it was important to him that the the Drop-In was welcoming to the entire community.

Twenty years later about a quarter of the people who come to the Drop-In are from the general public and the rest are clients of one of the local agencies.

“While I have been a constant, everyone who comes to the Drop-In is a volunteer. We plan meals together; we cook and clean up together. The people who attend decide what we eat, what kinds of activities people want to engage in,” he said.

Last Wednesday, to mark the 20th anniversary, over 55 people came to the Drop-In, packing the hall and eating a special pulled pork dinner prepared by guest chef Tim Cota.

“We needed to get Tim here this week, because we can't serve 55 people,” said Procter.

Procter said that the secret to the Drop-In's success, in his view, has to do with its outreach to the community at large. “There are other people in my position who started to hold weekly lunches, but none have lasted as long as the Drop-in”. Mike Procter thinks that is because they were limited only to the clientele of the agency that was putting them on.

“We have had so many people come to the Drop-In for a year or two after a partner has died or to get themselves out of the house after an illness, and then they move away or stop coming for some reason, but there is always someone else coming in afterwards,” he said.

The Drop-in operates using some of Mike Procter's work time and support from Community Living-North Frontenac, but the major source of funds to buy the food, coffee and tea that is served comes from the $5 cost of the meal.

“We don't have a lot of money to spend, but since the hall is donated and there are volunteers working here each week, including students from the high school, hundreds over the years, the Drop-In has been able to thrive,” he said.

The Community Drop-in takes place every Wednesday at noon. Lunch costs $5 including coffee and dessert, and all are welcome.