Prince Albert residents were treated to a free barbecue in Kinsmen Park on Friday, and organizer Devin Dubois hopes it’s the start of something larger.
Dubois named the barbecue “Food for a Smile” because he wanted to do something good for the community. He reached out and people responded with donations of hot dogs, hamburgers, condiments, cupcakes and drinks.
“The strategy was we’re going to fire up a little barbecue and maybe hand off a couple boxes of burgers, and then it kind of just exploded,” he said. “The whole community came out and chipped in.”
Dubois estimated that on Friday he gave away 1,000 hamburgers and hot dogs.
He said the goal of the free barbecue was to break down barriers. He said that he was a bouncer and often tried to help people he saw struggling with addictions while he was in that line of work.
“I got to know these people on a personal level,” he explained. “I got to know them pretty well, and if a lot of people got to know these people, they would have a lot of different view on them. Not all of them are hopeless drug addicts.”
Dubois, who goes by Dubbledee on Facebook, said that anyone could end up in those circumstances.
He said that some of the people who are now homeless he went to school with and worked with and now they are on the streets.
“It’s where it really hits home,” he said. “I decided it’s time to maybe give back to those people because nobody gives to them, so at least I can give them a full meal with the barbecue.”
He said that after the barbecue ended at 4 p.m. and everything had concluded someone arrived late and they gave her a box of burgers. After they left they saw her sitting in the sun with a box of frozen burgers.
“Stories like that happen all the time,” he said.
While Dubois is happy with the barbecue’s success, he sees the needs as larger than what one barbecue in Kinsmen Park can provide. He said one solution could be a Meals on Wheals concept.
“We really need to step up our game here because the Food Bank can only do so much and all they really do is give out mismatched items that you can’t even make a decent meal (out of),” he said.
“The city doesn’t even realize it, but there’s poverty like beyond belief. We need to do something about it.”
With one barbecue down, Dubois is already making plans for another. Ideally, he’d like to create a large fundraiser supper, with everything donated by the community.
“This is our community. We need to stand together and do something about it,” he said.
Dubois is looking for caterers and others to donate their services.
He said that he has acts lined up that would be there to send a message about the obstacles the community needs to overcome.
“It’s very important that we all get together and do our best to make this happen, because I would like to take all the proceeds and go right to say, Harold’s IGA a local private grocery store where the money stays in the community and we will spend it all there and take it all directly back to the Food Bank and it will all be usable food items,” he said.
Aside from meals, Dubois said that his other goal is a food and clothing drive for the homeless and people on the streets.
“I want everybody to put together a good amount of clothing, enough for one person to suit up, one set of clothing,” he explained. “If everybody can donate one set of clothing to clothe one person, if we can do that 1,000 times, there’s probably 1,000 people on the street.”
Dubois said that the success of the free barbecue showed that the need was there.
“It was very reassuring to see everybody who chipped in. There was everybody from all walks of life and It would be nice to see that happen again.”
Dubois thanked the community for the support including the Bernice Sayese Centre for donating the barbecue and everyone involved
“I’m absolutely stunned by the amount of support that we’ve gotten…. This is something PA needs. We need to get Prince Albert a better reputation, so just stand together and make that happen.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
