A Better Bite Community Kitchen Hosts Free Holiday Market

At a free holiday market on Saturday, A Better Bite Community Kitchen distributed over 2,700 items to families in need. These items included:

• Christmas Dinner (turkey, ham, vegetables, and all the fixings)
• Holiday desserts
• Personal care items
• Board games
• Various toys
• Books
• Pet supplies

At A Better Bite Community Kitchen, we know food. And we understand vulnerable populations. With high levels of poverty and unemployment, food insecurity has long been a challenge for us in Cape Breton — and COVID-19 has made it so much worse. Many more people will struggle to provide healthy food for themselves and their families this holiday season.

The free holiday market was a ticketed event. A Better Bite Community Kitchen and The Good Food Bus worked with local community organizations to identify families in need. Each family attending the free holiday market was able to select the items they are most in need of — including groceries, new toys, personal care items, pet food, and winter accessories — without having to worry about the financial burden that, even in the best of times, often comes with the holiday season.

“This has been one of the most ambitious things we have taken on to date, and certainly a 2020 highlight,” says Claire Turpin, Manager, A Better Bite Community Kitchen. “And we are so thankful for the staff and volunteers at A Better Bite Community Kitchen who continuously step up to support our community.”

Thank You Community Supporters

We would like to thank the following community organizations for making this event possible.

• The Convent for housing the event.
• Our community partners for reaching out to their clients and organizing the distribution of tickets.
• United Way of Cape Breton for matching our ambition and always supporting the things we do.
• New Horizons for Seniors for providing extra personal care items.
• Community Food Centres Canada for funding all our free markets this year.
• Special thanks to Colburne Auto for their generous donation and providing free french fries from their food truck.

Finally, we would like to thank our staff and volunteers for their time and support, for running around buying last-minute items, and for making sure people were safe and enjoying themselves.

We truly believe this market was like no other and that a community that comes together to help those in need can accomplish anything.