St. Vincent's Kitchen is a restaurant providing a community atmosphere, amid a low cost meal in a dignified way to the needy and hungry of the Durham Region. 

The following is information regarding St. Vincent's Kitchen.

St. Vincent's Kitchen:
•  is a low-cost restaurant, located in Downtown Oshawa

•  is operated by over 600 volunteers each month (most are from churches in the Durham Region serving on teams)

•  serves a wide variety of people, the financially and mentally challenged, low-income and single parent families, elderly men and women, the homeless and the lonely

•  serves approximately 150 meals each day approximately 50,000 each year - 4% of those meals are served to children 12 and under

•  serves food, which is donated by local businesses and organizations

•  has a van which picks up donated food on a daily basis and delivers 1- 2 van loads of perishable food to other agencies and breakfast programs

•  receives no government funding

•  is funded by church groups, community clubs, individuals amid businesses

•  operates discount store in which the proceeds go directly to fund the Kitchen

Kitchen Hours:
Open Monday to Friday 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
 

How & Why St. Vincent's Was Started
A small group of people saw a sad thing happening in Oshawa.  They saw that many people were hungry and had no way of eating a nutritious meal.  They also saw that there were businesses who were throwing out good food.  They wanted to provide a place where those who needed a meal could come.

This small group sent a letter to all the churches in Durham Region inviting them to come to a meeting at St. Mary of the People Catholic Church Hall.  They expected 25 people to attend but were very surprised and pleased that 250 people attended the meeting.  From that group volunteer teams were formed as well a board of directors.

The location was discussed and Downtown Oshawa was decided upon because of its central location.  51 King Street East had a vacancy in the basement but the work involved to set up a restaurant that was fire safe was a tremendous task.  Many hours of planning and work went into making that basement the St. Vincent's Kitchen dining area we know today.

Bill and Sally Francis were two people who worked extremely hard to ensure the opening of St. Vincent's Kitchen.  Other founding members were Myrna Lack, Father Thomas Melady and Father Richard Love.
 

Spiritually:
- Keep us in your prayers.

Financially:
- Support us with a donation (Income tax receipts provided)

Directly:
- Be a part of our Volunteer Staff, (cooking, cleaning, serving, food pick-ups)

Practically:
- Put food on our tables. (coffee, tea, sugar, juices, foil and wax paper)
- Bring left over food from banquets.
- Give a donation of cleaning supplies.
- Bring a donation to the St. Vincent Discount Store located on King Street