Editor's note: this story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
Tim Douglas doesn’t have to walk a mile in anyone else’s shoes to know helping out is the right thing to do.
A Stratford resident, Douglas has felt the sting of food insecurity in the not-too-distant past – on a scale of 1-10 in terms of financial stability, he gives himself a -3 score. He’s called upon the House of Blessing for a little help, as well as the Salvation Army. And now, he’s found a way to repay that kindness: he’s started Tim’s Tab at the local Burrito Guyz restaurant on Downie Street.
“I work for Stratford Airporter, and I recently had come into some extra money thanks to a very generous tip from a customer as well as some money my aunt gave my wife and I,” Douglas said. “Then I had the thought, ‘what can I do today to help make someone’s day better?’, and then I met Angel. He needed a meal and some money to get it, and I was here at Burrito Guyz grabbing food for my wife and I. After I got our food, I knew I had some extra cash and I got this feeling that Angel needed it. I came back in and gave him some money so he could get some food.”
That act of kindness was simply that – one act to help out a stranger. But the feeling began to fester (as Douglas called it) until it reached a point where he had to do something else. He’d heard of a local pizzeria helping out those in need with a few slices here and there to make sure some of the city’s homeless had a hot meal, and he liked that idea so much he ran with it.
“I’d seen the idea before where people purchase pre-paid meals for those less fortunate, and I wondered why we don’t have something like that here,” he said. “The House of Blessing and Salvation Army do great work and they’re wonderful to have, but we also need something that can bring everybody together. So I came back to Burrito Guyz and bought a meal for someone.”
Douglas made up a sign, and Tushar Patel (the franchise owner and manager) was more than happy to let Dougals post the sign in the restaurant. According to Douglas, Patel has been generous in providing help in this area in his own way (along with Abhishek and Chirag Patel), but Tushar was happy to credit Douglas for this act. And the fact that he knows what it feels like to need that helping hand made Douglas that much more willing to make it happen for others.
“I know what being in that mindset is like, and that’s why I wanted to help out when and where I could,” he said. “When I told Tushar about my idea, he loved it so much that he wanted to cover it and he provided the first five meals to get this going. The plan now is to get this going in other places.”
Douglas talked about going to Foodland and buying a few things in advance, posting a similar notice to the one at Burrito Guyz. It’s not much but to someone who needs the help, it’s plenty.
“I want this to spread to a bunch of different places so that when people who need the help go into a place they know there’s help waiting for them there,” he said. “They might not have a lot of money, so if they know they can get a hot meal then it’s one less thing they have to figure out that day and they have the brain capacity to sort other things out.”
For this effort, Douglas isn’t looking for credit or adulation. All he wants is to see his generosity become infectious and start to spread across the city. The need is clearly out there, and he believes there are plenty of people out there who can help meet it.
“If I can do this at the stage I’m at in my life, then anybody can,” he said. “It doesn’t take much, even a couple of bucks at Foodland for a chocolate bar and a bottle of water. Put that up, and then somebody at least has a fresh bottle of water and a snack there for them. They may not have a full meal, but at least they have something – a little bit of hope to get them through the day.”
He’s seen the magic of caring work up close before: he and his wife helped out a homeless woman who was living rough near their home as best they could. The woman, who he called Izzy, reached out to them a couple of months ago to let them know their act made a huge difference to her.
“She told us that because of our help, she was able to pick herself up, get an apartment, get her daughter back and just keep on going from there,” he said. “That’s what this is all about, making people feel human again. So I hope people will go out and purchase a meal and put it on ‘Tim’s Tab’ to help keep this going.”
