Mealshare launches in Ottawa to provide meals to homeless and at-risk youth

_ (press release) _

June 13, 2016

–

Tomorrow

(

Tuesday June 14th

) Mealshare will officially launch in Ottawa and join some of the Capital’s best known restaurant owners to dramatically add to the 725,000 meals that have been served to Canadian youth in need so far.

On Friday

, all of Ottawa’s Clocktower Brew Pubs joined, making this a record launch for Mealshare.

“When we announced in April that we were expanding to Ottawa we were overwhelmed with the enthusiasm.” says Mealshare Co-Founder Jeremy Bryant.

Mealshare’s launch event will be hosted on

Tuesday, June 14th at 5:00pm

at The Shore Club in the Westin Hotel.  The Shore Club was among the first restaurants to sign up for Mealshare in Ottawa.

The Shore Club’s Craig Stevenson says, “We host guests from across the country, and this program helps our struggling youth here in Ottawa. Our guests will love having a tangible way to help the city they invariably think of as their home away from home.”

The restaurants signed up so far: Albion Rooms. CRAFT Beer Market. North and Navy. Petit Bill’s Bistro. The Red Lion. Social. The Shore Club. Smoke’s Poutinerie. Thyme and Again, all Ottawa Clocktower Brew Pubs.

Here’s how it works: Restaurants partner with Mealshare and place the Mealshare logo next to a few menu items. For every ‘Mealshare item’ sold, customers get their meal as normal, AND Mealshare provides one meal to a youth in need. Buy one, give one - it’s simple! In Ottawa, Mealshare is partnering with Operation Come Home to provide meals to homeless and at-risk youth.

Executive Director Elspeth McKay says, “We believe it’s an incredible gift to give diners at our supporting restaurants the ability to do their part to help youth struggling in our community. Our kids feel nobody cares about them. What a strong message this is… that thousands of people do.”

Since 2013, Mealshare has provided 733,211 meals through operations in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Halifax.

Mealshare would like to say a special thank you to their Founding Supporters who enabled them to launch in Ottawa: Ottawa Media Group, Hydro Ottawa, and the Wesley Clover Foundation. And, to their other generous supporters: Tartan Homes, Barbara Crook and Dan Greenberg of the Danbe Foundation, and Village Green Dental Care.