Over the past seven years, Lawrence Xurieb, owner of Lonnie’s on Market in Brantford, and founder of Lonnie’s Soup Kitchen, along with his dedicated volunteers, have been welcoming people with a genuine smile and a warm meal.
Xurieb, whose parents Brian and Kim, opened the restaurant in 2008, discussed how the soup kitchen came to be.
“We started a soup kitchen/pop ups about seven years ago. Every few months during the summer, we would do a couple of pop ups…just to provide some food, haircuts or emergency help…like wound dressing. And then we noticed a big need for food security downtown and in the surrounding area…[and] decided to start a soup kitchen more for the winter months,” he said. “About three years ago we started going full time…during the months of October through to March…we would do Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. This year, I’ve seen there was more of a need for it than ever before, so I decided to continue the soup kitchen running as of March 2026…and include a hot meal, bread, and other food we can offer. I had trays of eggs recently…and water donations have been important for us too.”
However, for Xurieb, they are providing a necessity for anyone that comes by.
“In my opinion, every single person deserves a hot meal and clothes on their back…so, we try and contribute a little bit to helping do that in the downtown core and around the surrounding areas. Also, a lot of people think that the Lonnie Soup Kitchen is geared for the homeless, but that isn’t the case…I’m feeding families, kids, wives and husbands. I’m getting up to ten vehicles pull up here for food and donations,” he said. “There’s a lot of homelessness around downtown and many people who are just simply struggling these days. I have a friend…who is a registered nurse [and she] went down an unfortunate path because of financial issues, mental health and addiction…and she’s on the street now. It’s something that can happen to anyone…and a lot of people in town are a paycheque away from being on the street.”
Many people are depending more and more on initiatives like Lonnie’s Soup Kitchen and various pantries in the city.
“Unfortunately, with the vandalism that happened in the past, people had a bit of a bad taste in their mouths and hesitated to donate any food at a local pantry…but, I’ve just seen such a need for the community outreach and food security in places like in the North End and by the Briar Park area…so, we took on running a pantry on 241 Dunstan Street, and we’re stocking that up every two to three times a week,” he noted. “I’ve noticed a lot of people down here [who] might be in a different tax bracket or they might be in a different situation because they’re in homes….are still struggling in some way….trying to make ends meet. And that pantry feeds a lot of the people in that area. I have a community garden there too and recently when I was watering my plants, I saw around six people coming by and filling their bags with food from the pantry.”
However, many people and organizations have expressed to Xurieb the importance of what they are doing in the downtown core while contributing to the cause.
“We have people come into the restaurant, thanking us for our contribution to that, as well as helping out other groups too. For Rosewood House, we started delivering bread and eggs and other food items to them [and] for the Blessing Center, we started delivering eggs as well. So, we are providing contributions to communities around town that are also giving out food and just being supportive to people who need help. But a lot of the people are mostly very much appreciative of what we do [and] we have a lot of donors, in the sense of people contributing money or food including Maria’s Pizza West, Ingham Monuments, Tilly Flooring, Enbridge and the St. John’s College (Class of 1987) who donated $2250…and Lococo’s ran a water drive…donating about 30 cases of water to our soup kitchen. I had Candy Clouds, [who] donated 20 cases of water. We have a lot of donors who are compassionate and are doing what they can to help,” he said. “There was a lady out in Ottawa. She read a CBC article about what we were doing and it touched her and she sent $200 as a donation. That was wonderful. And then a lot of my friends who have donated…a friend Zach, sent us $300 and another friend Shannon, she sent us $200 and it all goes into the donation financial audit book….[which] gets distributed for food and essentials for the pantry and the soup kitchen.”
However, he maintains the importance of giving back in some way.
“It all starts with your local community. Look around…there’s so many different places out there that are giving away not just food…there’s Friendship House, they’re building a community center for people. There’s BL’s Little Free Pantries, St. Andrew’s United Church, Grace Anglican Church, and there’s the Blessing Centre. Anyone can start something like this…and it’s easy to reach out to a local group and volunteer…just to give a helping hand to somebody, even if it’s just dropping off food to a pantry. It’s a big help, and it’s very much appreciated,” he said.
As for volunteers, Xurieb has several people who have served, yet he is always looking for more.
“I’ve got about two groups of volunteers right now…that come out every other Sunday. So, every Sunday I have one group [and] every other Sunday I’ve got the other. It’s about a group of six to eight people who are wonderful volunteers. Everybody’s so gracious, and they’re so compassionate. They come out, with a smile on their faces ready to help others. My job is to make, prepare, and get the food out, and then I have volunteers serve the food to our friends,” Xurieb said. “We have a page on Facebook…called Lonnie’s Soup Kitchen/Volunteers. We have about 1200 people following us and it has been helping us get our message out. But we are always looking for more people to come out and volunteer…no matter your situation…and no questions asked. These groups have been great…we all contribute, working well with each other and giving food out to our community.”
Nevertheless, for Xurieb, the grateful look on people’s faces his team is helping, makes it all worthwhile.
“It’s mostly just about helping people….by the end of it, when they’re walking through the line, they kind of look at me and smile and say thank you. It puts a little bit of…a light in their eyes and puts a little bit of a sense of happiness back in them….they feel that there’s someone who cares about them and wants to help. It can be hard being on the streets…and to show up to a soup kitchen and get food isn’t always the easiest, so….to help them with a smile and some warm food is an important thing to do,” he concluded.
