Residents are questioning whether a Maple Ridge woman should be allowed to serve food for free at a homeless camp.
Teal ‘Mama’ Quin has been selflessly preparing a full course meal and serving it to the homeless at the Anita Place Tent Camp, on 223rd Street near the Haney Bypass in Maple Ridge.
Three times a week, Quin cooks the meal on her stove in her mobile home and brings it to the camp, where she serves it to the residents from a makeshift kitchen.
Recently, she served 42 people at one sitting.
However, online, people have questioned whether Quin needs a permit to be serving food.
“Does she have her food safe and all the required permits from Fraser Health,” asked Dawn Illerbrun.
“When I was a kid and someone forgot their lunch, everybody shared something from their lunch with that person. Nobody asked if permits had been acquired for the preparation of that food … the hungry person was fed. I understand the importance of Fraser Health permits for most events. But with extreme situations, getting food in stomachs (and keeping people healthy) is more important,” replied Peter Thompson.
“There is a huge difference between kids sharing their sandwich at school with a friend and someone preparing a meal for 100 people in their home (in who knows what condition), transporting it [in] a vehicle that is not capable of maintaining temperatures that are deemed to be safe and then serving it to people in unsanitary conditions,” Illerbrun added.
That sparked Kathy Mcconneell’s reply: “It’s people like you who should spend a few weeks in a tent in under the same surroundings as these people.”
Others questioned whether a resident should be feeding the homeless, regardless.
“Might as well be handing out drugs,” said Courtney Thomas. “It’s so basic I’m always shocked when people don’t know what enabling is … Make it unbearable and they’ll make the changes they need to and see why the rest of us ‘sheep’ go to work everyday and play the game.”
Kelly Warner had a different take.
“It may seem like enabling, but this woman seems to have a very compassionate heart and this just happens to be where she has chosen to help,” she said.
“Even though not all would agree with what she is doing, maybe people should try to separate from the issues at hand and acknowledge this example of kindness. We can always use more of it in this world.”
Fraser Health confirmed that food shared between private individuals is not covered by Food Premises Regulations.
“Individuals who wish to share food with those in need are welcome to do so,” said Tasleem Juma, with Fraser Health.
If operating a business that was either selling or providing food to the public, she added, or if operating a kitchen and serving the food out of it, a permit is needed because of the facility.
“Food safe is a certification. If you own a premises that requires the permit, at least one person who works there needs to have their food safe certification. That’s things like, it’s a two day course, about, say, food handling, what temperature cold foods need to be kept at, what temperatures hot food need to be handled, the difference between raw meats and fruits and vegetables. So it’s actually the safe handling of food,” Juma said.
Quin is not operating out of a business.