Hundreds of Windsor residents experiencing homelessness and food insecurity enjoyed a warm, festive meal this week, as the Downtown Mission hosted its annual Community Holiday Meal. The event on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, provided a crucial moment of joy and community support during the challenging winter season.
A Festive Feast in the Face of Hardship
The shelter on Ouellette Avenue was prepared to serve 300 traditional holiday meals during the afternoon event. Volunteers, including one dressed as Santa Claus, bustled through the halls with carts laden with trays of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, and all the trimmings, delivering them to the eagerly awaiting dining room.
For guests like Crystal Byerley, the meal meant more than just food. The 46-year-old, who came to the Mission for support six months ago, shared that the experience made her feel "happy and appreciated" during a difficult chapter in her life. "It was good," she said simply, after finishing her plate.
Soaring Costs and Sustained Need
Behind the scenes of this heartwarming tradition lies a stark economic reality. Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin of the Downtown Mission revealed that while the organization manages costs by buying in bulk, the price per meal has skyrocketed. Each meal now costs the mission $4.85, a increase of nearly 60% since 2019, when the cost was $3.11.
"The cost of food has skyrocketed," Ponniah-Goulin stated. "It's very costly to put together a meal, even for an individual family." This surge aligns with data from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, which estimates the weekly grocery cost for a family of four in the region at $271.83, or over $1,180 per month in 2025.
The Mission's services are in constant demand. Daily, the organization serves between 400 and 600 meals at its core location, plus another 60 to 80 at its Windsor Youth Centre on Wyandotte Street East.
Shelter Demand Reaches a Peak
The need extends far beyond meals. As temperatures plummet, the Mission has seen a dramatic spike in demand for overnight shelter. While they typically accommodate between 90 and 110 people nightly, the shelter hosted 174 individuals on a particularly cold night last week. This includes those using the roughly 95 beds and eight crash mats upstairs, as well as people seeking warmth in the main floor dining area.
"It shows the value of what this one building, this one service, is doing," Ponniah-Goulin reflected. "If we weren't here, where would those 174 people be?"
The success of the holiday meal and the Mission's year-round operations hinge on community generosity. "We depend on the generosity of our community members to make that happen," Ponniah-Goulin emphasized, "and our community members come through every year, this time of year especially." For the vulnerable individuals it serves, the Mission provides more than sustenance; it offers a vital reminder, as Ponniah-Goulin noted, that "the community is behind them."
