A Calgary hotel is sending its leftover food to homeless people instead of tossing it in the trash.
The Westin is the first in the province to partner with the Drop-In Centre, sending about 70 frozen containers per week by air-chilled truck to the downtown facility.
The pilot-project is keeping a lot of good food from going to waste, said Shaun Ellis, executive chef at the Westin.
“Many chefs are so disappointed when you have to throw all that food away, because you really do take so much pride in cooking that food,” he said.
Until a month ago, the hotel was discarding hundreds of meals every week — food that had been prepared for banquets, but never served.
Ellis said the program gives homeless people a chance to have a top quality meal.
“Chicken, salmon with citrus salsa, a very, very high end food actually, and we're actually able to put it to use,” he said.
The idea is modelled after a Montreal program that keeps more than 200,000 meals per year out of the garbage.
Ellis said he'd like to get other hotels on board and see the project expand across the city.
The donations are greatly appreciated, but with thousands of meals to serve every day, Drop-In Centre head chef Myron Jeffers says he’d like the see the program expand.
“It has to start somewhere. If the other hotels come on board then it's going to be a great big donation for us.”
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