About Us
Good Neighbours is a drop-in mission new to the Scarborough neighbourhood! Come visit us at 193 Markham Road, near Markham and Eglinton.
Our home base and affiliate is St. John The Compassionate Mission,
located near Broadview and Queen. St. John’s has been serving the marginalized and those in need for the past thirty years.
Beginning in 1986, we opened the Mission drop-in in Riverdale. Since then, many of the families and individuals we knew left the downtown core and moved to Scarborough. We realized that Scarborough was becoming an area of great need with very few social services.
In 2016, we opened a new location location in Scarborough on Danforth Road and Eglinton East. It was in this new site that we learned of the closure of the Scarborough Red Cross Drop-In. After consultation with the Scarborough Red Cross, we decided to move near to the location they were leaving. Our new home has inherited some of the regulars from the Scarborough Red Cross, but also new people.
We follow the ‘Rule’ of the Mission. In Scarborough, Good Neighbours is part of the Apostolate of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese.
As with our affiliate missions, we wish to create a beautiful and inclusive place where families with children, and others who visit, can experience belonging and peace. All are welcome!
Good Neighbours is associated with Community Food Centres Canada, as a ‘Good Food Organization.’
P. Roberto was born in the Congo, grew up in South Africa, and later lived in Italy, the USA, Spain, and France. For more than thirty-five years, he has been serving with St. John’s Mission in Toronto, which he founded. Presently, he serves as Executive Director of Good Neighbours. His hope is to find someday the perfect café in Scarborough.
Mary serves as the Director of Good Neighours Drop-In. She has lived in Scarborough since 1999, and lived in the Middle East before coming to Canada. Originally from Sri Lanka, she is a social service worker, and speaks Sinhalese, Tamil, Arabic, Hindi, and of course English. She likes to travel a lot, and enjoys cooking and conversations.
Ellijah Wijeratne, social worker.
Francis recently arrived from Nairobi, Kenya. The youngest member of the team, his favorite season is summer, his passion is football (soccer), and he speaks Kiswahili, Kikuyu, and English.
Brother Luke (Gary) is originally from Chatham, lives in our community house and is a member of the community of the Brothers of Mercy, a community inspired by St. Elizabeth of Moscow. He loves theatre, literature, gardening, music, art and working with youth. He always thinks outside any box you can imagine. Our hope is that someday he will learn to cook biryani! He is the Prior (Director) of the drop-in.
Alain is our cook, preparing over 300 meals a week. He provides nutritious and tasty food, with cultural sensitivity. Under his leadership, our kitchen has almost zero waste. Chef Alain trained under famous Chef Charles Barrier in the city of Tours, where he was born. Alain is proud to say he come the Touraine region of France, where French is spoken without an accent. With Alain’s help, we are in the process of joining with the Massimo Bottura Refettorio movement.
Our assistant cook Marie comes from Acadia. She trained in cooking at the Femme aux foyer in Paquetville, New Brunswick. Unlike Alain, her French has a beautiful Acadian accent. She brings music and song to the kichen.