Charity Chicks Hamilton (CCH) has only been an organization in Hamilton since the end of last year, but they’ve done an enormous amount for the community in that time.
Kathryn Crooks was born in Scarborough, ON but raised in Jamaica. Years after moving to Hamilton, in 2008 she became critically ill. Without health insurance, she experienced first-hand how expensive medical treatment can be.
“Even in a country where healthcare is free, medication is not free. And that’s what slid us out of control, I had to spend $500 a month on medication, which all went onto credit cards,” said Crooks.
Crooks experienced how a family on social assistance lives. After having to access food bank services and struggling to pay her bills, she felt the need to do something to help.
Tameka Halstead, Director of Health and Education for CCH and a case manager at the Community Care Access Centre, was the second member Crooks approached to help her start the charity.
“When Kathy came to me with the idea of Charity Chicks I jumped at the opportunity to give back to my community. Each time we serve the vulnerable in our community with just the basics of a warm breakfast, coffee and care package it touches my heart and I am humbled by the gratitude of those we serve,” wrote Halstead.
CCH held their first event after Christmas of last year, planning to serve hot breakfasts to those in need at the Salvation Army. After realizing that some of those people in need may not be able to afford the transportation costs to get to them, they decided to bring the food to the people.
“We had so much hot food left over on that cold morning and knew that so many people could still use a good hot meal, so we packaged up all the remaining food in containers, gathered the fruit, orange juice and coffee and headed downtown to the core of the city. “ said Bev Dexter, a stay-at-home mom and the third member of the CCH trio.
They’ve done three breakfast runs since their inception at the end of last year. The Starbucks team on Locke Street has been a constant contributor, already donating 300 cups of coffee (100 for each breakfast so far).
For their last breakfast run, they were expecting a flat of eggs and some bacon donated from Two Cougars and a Café. They were surprised when what they actually received was a carton of eggs (15 doz.) and twelve pounds of bacon.
“Paper is a stupid reason for people to have to choose between, do I feed my kids this week or do I keep the lights on? [It’s unacceptable],” said Crooks.
She went on to clarify, money used to be backed economically by gold; for every dollar in circulation there was an ounce of gold. Nowadays, money is not supported by a material source of value; instead, said Crooks, money is just paper.
This is the driving force behind why CCH has started work on forming an Angel network through which families in need will be able to apply for some financial assistance outside of the government’s social assistance plans.
“Our Angel Network will truly benefit hardworking families [who] sometimes fall between the cracks of getting any help with their bills, drugs, dental or anything that other people on assistance may have access to and this will be one of my main missions to help bridge the economic gap between the rich and the working poor,” wrote Dexter.
Boston Pizza has jumped on board, hosting an event on April 16th with fifty percent of the proceeds going to support CCH. They’ve also signed up for their “Earn Back Program” where, if you write “Charity Chicks Hamilton” on your meal receipt and deposit it in the box available, Boston Pizza will donate ten percent of the final bill to CCH.
“One of the things I like to emphasize to people is, you don’t know who these people are. My husband and I were walking into food banks and my husband has two bachelor’s degrees, and I have a bachelor’s degree. Part of the reason that I want to do this is to help shatter these stereotypes,” said Crooks.
If you’d like to help, get in touch with Charity Chicks Hamilton through their Facebook page.