Stevensville barbecue takes aim at growing food bank demand

Carrie Ewing wants her family’s annual charity barbecue to raise at least $2,000 this year, even as she says the same financial strain driving people to local food banks is limiting what neighbours can afford to give.

The third annual Mabel’s Barbecue for Charity runs Saturday, August 22, starting at 11 a.m. at 3947 West Main Street in Stevensville. Proceeds will support Happy Days Sanctuary, an animal rescue operation, as well as Dufferin Street food bank Community Outreach Program Erie (COPE).

“Times are tough,” Ewing said. “Not everybody can pitch in something. We completely understand that, even just to come out and say hi would be appreciated.”

Ewing’s husband, Steve, is covering the barbecue’s food and supply costs through the family’s fencing company, MKS Fences & More. That means every dollar from hotdog and sausage sales, along with cash and food donations, goes directly to the two organizations.

Hotdogs are $3 and sausages are $4. Attendees can also drop off non-perishable food or cash for COPE without buying anything.

Ewing said COPE’s need is easy to overlook until someone relies on it.

“Unless you’ve had to utilize their food bank, I don’t think people really understand the need for it,” she said.

Happy Days Sanctuary has faced mounting costs of its own. A fire destroyed the sanctuary’s main house in December, killing dozens of cats, and founder Ann Swinson has been living upstairs in the facility’s adoption building since a demolition order was issued for the damaged structure.

The sanctuary took in 54 cats from an overwhelmed owner in October and has since been asked to help with another 20 cats in Niagara Falls, a case Swinson has said could cost about $10,000 in veterinary care and housing.

“People don’t really understand what goes behind the scenes with running those programs,” Ewing said. “There’s so many expenses. It’s not just about feeding, it’s also about taking care of them if they’re injured.”

The family started the fundraiser three years ago partly to teach their daughter, Mabel Ewing, about the importance of charity. Mabel hands out food at the barbecue and sometimes joins her parents when they deliver donations afterward.

“The first thing she said was, ‘Oh, can we take the money over to the lady with the animals?'” Ewing said, describing her daughter’s reaction when the family talked about holding the barbecue again this year.

Ewing said the family is not counting on large individual donations to reach its $2,000 target.

“If everybody just chipped in a little bit, that’s all the community could ask for,” she said.

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