A local businessman is doing his part to help feed people in need in the community.

Seven years ago, Scott Hillyer of Coffee Matters started working with various churches in Mount Pearl to prepare meals twice monthly for people in need.

The program now serves hundreds of people and the demand keeps growing.

Hillyer says the meals are prepared at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Mount Pearl, but every two week period is hosted by a different church.

“We have seven churches that are on board, and so each week when we do the dinners, a host church comes, and those are the volunteers that help my kitchen team prepare plates and get the dinners ready to go out the door.”

Hillyer says they started off providing 100 meals every two weeks, “and then COVID hit,” and they had to temporarily shut it down. That’s when they shifted to a mobile take-out dinner, with a van provided by the Salvation Army.

Now demand has grown to 300 take-out dinners every two weeks.