Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee’s Morningstar Mission will celebrate 15 years of serving the community in style on Sept. 17 with a street party outside their 58 Water Street W building.
All ages are welcome to attend the event, which runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will include live music, a free barbecue, face-painting, bouncy castle, tours of the building and Napanee River cruises offered from their neighbours at the Waterfront River Pub and Terrace. Musical acts for the day include Kim Pollard, Dusty Crozier, Steve Medd, Thomas Mastin and Bryan McNicholas.
“Morningstar really is all about community,” said Lynda Carney, one of the event organizers for Morningstar. “We are propelled by the community through not only giving of their money, but also through the giving of their time and talents. We have well over 100 volunteers who work with us regularly. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do or have been able to do it for as long as 15 years and hopefully many years to come without that kind of time commitment and dedication and passion from our community.”
Morningstar opened its doors in 2007 with the mandate of helping those in need by providing food, clothing and companionship. Over the years, they’ve steadily grown in both the number of people accessing their services and the programs they offer.
“I think that COVID stripped away the blinders in some ways and made it ever more apparent some of the needs in our community,” said Carney. “We currently put out in excess of 1,500 meals a week at this point. There’s no sign of that slowing down anytime soon.”
Their programs include a food pantry, clothing program, drop in centre, weekly sit-down lunches, warming centre in the winter and a furniture program.
“There’s so much to learn about what goes on at Morningstar and that’s one of the reasons we’re so excited to have everybody come and spend the day with us on the 17th because we want them to celebrate what has happened over the last 15 years but we want people to really know and understand what goes on at Morningstar and the needs in the community and how they can become involved if they’re interested,” said Carney.
Along with their anniversary milestone, the Mission will have yet another reason to celebrate. Prior to the street party they’ll officially cut the ribbon to open their newly renovated commercial kitchen. That much needed upgrade will allow the Mission to once again run all of its programs under one roof. Previously they had been relying on the generosity of the Napanee Lions to help prepare their meals.
The street party is free of charge however monetary and food donations will be gladly accepted.