Advertisement

N.B. man pledges to shave beard if over $3,000 raised for Fredericton Community Kitchens

Click to play video: 'N.B. man pledges to shave beard for donations'
N.B. man pledges to shave beard for donations
WATCH: A New Brunswick man says if $3,000 or more can be raised for Fredericton community kitchens, he’ll shave his beard. Megan Yamoah has more. – Dec 2, 2019

A New Brunswick man who’s been growing his beard for five years says he’s willing to shave it all off if it will help others this holiday season.

John Moir says he’ll shave his face clean if New Brunswickers are able to raise $3,000 or more for Fredericton Community Kitchens.

He says he was inspired to complete the challenge after he starting serving at the kitchen.

“I have a spot in my heart for this kitchen,” he said.

“I usually try to do something this time of year to help the kitchen and the homeless.”

Story continues below advertisement

READ MORE: Surrey Christmas Bureau appeals for toys for kids in need

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

All his fundraising efforts will go towards the Fredericton Community Kitchens’ student hunger program that served 70,000 lunches in 2018.

“It just is a huge help and takes a lot of the burden off of us to raise funds,” said Cassandra Blackmore, Fredericton Community Kitchens fundraising co-ordinator.

“We need to buy things like lunch meat, which isn’t something that can be donated. It’s something that we have to buy, and a lot of the meat that we use here in the kitchen also needs to be purchased.”

Click to play video: 'Canadians being warned of potential for Christmas tree shortage'
Canadians being warned of potential for Christmas tree shortage

The student hunger program alone costs around $145,000 annually, and is almost completely community funded.

“We make 320 some meals a day, which go to 14 area schools,” said Mike Smith, Fredericton Community Kitchens operations manager.

Story continues below advertisement

“We have a backpack program where currently we are making 82 backpacks and they go home to kids with hungry families on weekends, and they bring them back empty on the Monday and we fill them up each week.”

READ MORE: Edmonton farmers work to make holiday hampers last

The community kitchen is also in need of volunteers to help prep meals and with service.

Including the student program, the community kitchens made around 160,000 meals last year, and they pride themselves on only serving gourmet.

“Our only mandate is to make sure we do restaurant-quality food that I would feed to the queen or my mother,” said Louis Cosman, a chef with Fredericton Community Kitchens.

Sponsored content

AdChoices