Be it in winter’s cold or summer’s heat, every Welfare Wednesday many of our neighbours must line up before dawn for their Social Assistance cheques – or to find our why there won’t be a cheque. We started the Banana Beat in August 2006 and it was our first version of Nutritional Outreach, a respectful nod of recognition to approximately 600 of those women and men in the line ups, with a twist of nutrition. “Sir/Madame, would you like a little potassium to start your day?”
The Banana Beat preceded the May 2007 opening of our first storefront by nine months and was a critical communicative instrument for us during that period, as we donned our signature NH aprons and chatted with our neighbours, defining the nature of a NH and their incipient role within it. We left colour filled handbills in our wake, promoting our programming of the time (Grand/Parent-Tot Drop In and Outings For Youth) and naming our future desires (that beautiful NH we’ll one day inhabit in the heart of the DTES, complete with rooftop garden).
