5 LOAVES, 2 FISH, AND A DREAM:
The Story of Seema’s 5n2 Kitchens When
Seema David immigrated to Canada in 2007, starting a community initiative was the furthest thing from her mind. Her focus, much like many new immigrants, was on creating a life for her family and managing her new home. But on her daily commutes into the city of Toronto, she couldn’t help but notice the number of food-insecure and homeless individuals on the city streets. At the same time, she met other new immigrants in Scarborough who were struggling to feed their families. She knew she had to make a difference to help her community, and so, 5n2 was born. “There is this story in the book of Mathew in the Bible,” Seema says, “Crowds follow Jesus to the countryside to listen to Him discourse. At the end of the day, they are tired and hungry, and there’s nowhere to get food from. One little boy has 5 pieces of bread and 2 pieces of fish, which he brings to Jesus. He prays over this food, and the disciples then serve it out to the men, women, and children, and gather the leftovers in 5 baskets. When I was looking for a name for the kitchen, it was as if God was telling me to put in whatever little I had to offer and He would multiply it.” And over the years, Seema has seen the kitchen expand to serve multiple locations, even opening the Free Food Pantry in 2020, where clients can access food supplies on an appointment and referral basis. But the path to creating a community initiative like 5n2 was not an easy one. With a dream in her heart, Seema spoke with her church leadership about opening up a soup kitchen, but was stalled for about six months. “I was naive and thought, well, I just want to prepare pots of soup and serve it out, not comprehending all that it would take to serve food to the public.” It wasn’t until Seema met Ravi Kumar at a hospitality event at George Brown College, where she worked, that 5n2 was able to come to life.
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