Cape Breton's international community steps up to feed displaced people

Some international students in Cape Breton, N.S., are still without power or a place to live in the aftermath of post-tropical storm Fiona, but one non-profit group wants to bring a piece of comfort through home cooked meals.

The Cape Breton Malayali Association made enough food to feed upwards of 200 people who were displaced from the storm.

They cooked up a meal from their home state of Kerala in southern India — green moong dal — a curry dish made with lentils and rice. 

The hot food was a welcome sight for about 50 people who gathered on Charlotte Street in Sydney, N.S.

Cape Breton University student Chaithanya Pradeepkumar hasn't had power for the last five days. She and her friends had been eating bread and jam since Saturday. 

"It's very difficult to even cook our food and everything," she said. "So what these people are doing is a great service."

About a dozen cooks pitched in to make the meal happen. They chopped onions, garlic, and cooked up lentils.

But they needed pots big enough to feed 200 people — and kitchen space to cook it in.

Ashwel Varghese is one of the volunteers with the group, and feeding people is important to him. 

"Because of the hurricane, Fiona, everybody's starving for a shelter and food," he said. "So we got an idea like, how can we help the community from the basic level?" 

Varghese has been working at Governor's Pub and Eatery for three years.

He asked executive chef Nathan Susin if he could borrow his butane burners to cook the meal. 

"I brought them in this morning and they were not going to cut it," Susin said. "The burners were not big enough."

So Susin called up the owner of the restaurant and asked whether the group could use the prep kitchen for the day.

"He said, no problem whatsoever, and here we are." 

"It's always important to help your community, especially when we're in a situation where we can help," Susin said. 

Dinson Devassy, president of the association, said it was a humble initiative, but one that will help a lot of people. 

"All of a sudden they lost their shelter, lost their food, everything," Devassy said. "If we could get some food that would be much helpful, so that was what made us think about such an initiative." 

Devassy said the group was happy to do it. 

"We will be continuing this until we make sure that each and every one are OK, at least with food," he said.