Kate Valiquette went to school to become a social worker.
While that occupation never worked out, she admits she has always wanted to help people.
Kate and husband Chris are doing just that through their new restaurant called H.O.P.E. Kitchen located on the corner of McIntyre and Ferguson Street in North Bay.
The family, which runs Flat Rate Towing (McIntyre & Fisher) had supported local community groups who have helped the homeless the past two years.
But they wanted to take it a little further so when they realized the former Zach's Corner Restaurant was available, they jumped on the opportunity.
"We kind of looked around for a used food truck when we came upon an ad about the location at the former Zack's Corner Restaurant," said Valiquette.
"We thought that would be even better because then we could have open during the wintertime so make it a year-round thing and that is where it came from."
Valiquette says the restaurant is designed as a "pay it forward."
"We designed it that way so that anyone that can afford it, can come in and eat. If they wanted, they could buy a meal for somebody else, a cup of coffee, a snack or whatever," said Valiquette.
So far they are thrilled with the support.
"We have had a lot of people coming in and donating which is amazing," she said.
"I am so blown away by how much positive response we have gotten. It just makes me happy to be living in a smaller town like North Bay to really see these people every day helping and being excited about it and joining in on the cause and overwhelming response for people who want to volunteer is great."
But Valiquette says they want to do more than just help the homeless through their restaurant. She says their next step will be to use some of the revenue from the restaurant to help build mini shelters for the homeless.
"I did some research and they have these tiny homes in the States which were designed for homeless people and it is set up kind of like a trailer park and basically got people off the street, offer them shelter, and are able to do that sustainably at a low cost," Valiquette explained.
"I thought from the whole deal if I could make a profit at doing a restaurant in some way, I could use that money to start a build to create shelter for these people which could be better than a group home setting for some of them. They have their own space, their own living area so that is where the idea came from."
Valiquette says she has met with lawyers already in hopes of becoming a non-for-profit which would allow them to access funding for the shelters. She says they are getting a lot of local support to help achieve that goal.
She says the people showing their appreciation for the help is a big part of her motivation.
"We have met some people that really struggle with their mental health but they are wonderful human beings," said Valiquette.
"Some of them just got in a bad way in life and some of them had things that happened beyond their control. Everybody needs a hand once in a while."
