After attending the beautiful Ordination ceremony last week, Anita invited her friends and family to continue the celebration for a light meal. The restaurant was in Hamilton and it is called 541 Eatery and Exchange.

Before I share my experience with you, please watch this video about 541:

I was with Anita’s daughter on the way to the restaurant. I have to be honest with you, while we were driving there I felt like I was in another country. Maybe that is a naive thought to be having, since we WERE in Hamilton, but it didn’t feel that way. It felt like we were in a movie set of small town USA that had been forgotten about.

When we arrived, I parked on the street. Just to acknowledge my point about feeling like I was somewhere else, there were parking meters, as you can see here on the right. When was the last time you saw a parking meter like this? Anita’s daughter (15) has probably never seen one of these. I put my toonie in and on the meter it started flashing 2:00 (it was $1 per hour). If you think back to those ‘back in the day’ meters, the time counts down from your starting point.

When I walked into the restaurant, my first reaction was, wow, it feels like home. I am not trying to sound trite or stuck up, but it felt like you were walking into someone’s kitchen, family room, home. In the centre of the room was a long wooden table with benches. That table was reserved for our party, but you could see that it was the focus of the community space. Above that table was the sign that read, The Meeting Place. Several times while we were waiting for our party, people tried to sit at our table.

As the video said, 541 is a full service restaurant, with good quality foods. For some, this may be the only ‘home cooked’ quality meals they may eat. There were plenty of options. There was soup of the day, chili, personal sized pizza, roast chicken and salad, and so much more. Because of their mission statement, nothing was over $5. Which of course leads me to the next part of this amazing restaurant – the button payment plan.

What is the button payment plan? Very simple actually. There are two jars on the counter – Use a button or buy some buttons. If you can’t afford to pay for your meal, you can take up to 4 buttons per day and pay for your food with buttons. One button = $1.

If you can afford to pay and even pay it forward, you can buy some buttons for others to be able to eat. Pretty humbling, right? Think about that for a moment. How much did you spend on your last Frappuccino at Starbucks – at least $4, right? There are people that could eat for a day on that same amount of money.

There is no class distinction at this restaurant. You would never know who used a button, who paid for their food and/or paid for others to have buttons. What if the jar is empty and someone wants to eat and can’t pay. Anita said that if that was to happen, they would always get a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. No one should go hungry.

When Anita arrived we all started to order our food and started to celebrate. She immediately gravitated to this table full of children. I had been watching them for a while. One of the young girls drew a picture for Anita. I really got a great understanding of why she chose that place for us to celebrate her new life with her. She requested on the invitation that we don’t bring her gifts, that our gift to her would be to buy buttons at the 541 Eatery. Each of us ordering, asked the cashier the same question, “can we buy our buttons now?”

Some of us found out from Anita later that while she was talking to the children, she noticed that they didn’t really have food on their table, just a couple of milkshakes. The twelve year old sister told her that she brings her siblings here every night for dinner. Anita asked what they ate that day. They said, cereal at breakfast. Anita ordered grilled cheese sandwiches for them. Got the message, loud and clear.

It really was a wonderful experience. I know that I left the restaurant, full. Full with a good meal, and full knowing that I will help someone else have a meal as well.

I know that Hamilton isn’t around the corner from where we live, but if you want something special to do with your kids this summer, take a drive out to Hamilton and treat them to a life experience. Maybe phone ahead and find out if they accept donations of colouring books and crayons for the children in the community. Even if you don’t have kids, or they are grown, the next time you are on your way back from a shopping trip in Buffalo, go to the 541 Eatery and leave some of your money there. You will feel great for doing so.