Feast to feed 700
Kelowna’s Gospel Mission serving its annual Christmas dinner today
It may be 10 days before Christmas, but Kelowna’s Gospel Mission is serving its turkey-andall-the-fixings dinner for the homeless today.
“We normally have Christmas dinner on the Saturday before the 25th,” said the mission’s development officer, Sonja Menyes. “But if that Saturday is too close to Christmas, we back it up a Saturday.”
It all means the turkey will be served to 700 homeless and disadvantaged people from noon to 6 p.m. today.
Meals on Christmas Day itself will be pretty casual in the dining room at the Gospel Mission’s facility on Leon Avenue downtown. The cook usually does something nice, but it won’t be as elaborate as Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.
“We find Christmas Day is slower around here,” said Menyes.
“Victory Life Church puts on a big Christmas dinner on the 25th at the Parkinson Recreation Centre, and a lot of the people we regularly serve will go there. Plus, Christmas is a time when people open their hearts, so some of our clients, even if they are estranged from their families, go back home for a dinner.”
Pulling off Christmas dinner for 700 requires planning and precision.
However, this is the mission’s 40th annual holiday meal and it knows what it’s doing.
Many turkeys are cooked and carved ahead of time, and the meat is frozen in gravy to be reheated for the dinner. It’s the only way the mission can get that many dinners out of the kitchen and onto dining room tables in six hours.
Plus, there’s ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, bread rolls and pie with whipped cream that has to be prepared and served by a small army of mission staff and volunteers.
Among the volunteers today are Mayor Colin Basran, city councillors Loyal Wooldridge and Ryan Donn, and Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick.
“The issue of homelessness has been top of mind in our community in the past year,” said mission executive director Randy Benson.
“It is a privilege for us to be able to serve our city’s most vulnerable in such a tangible way. Jesus asks us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Everyone here is our neighbour and, for some, we are the only family they have. It is our wish that all who take part in this meal will feel the love of Jesus and the care of our community.”
About 700 Christmas dinners isn’t that far off the 600 meals the mission serves in an average day.
However, an average day is more spread out with breakfast, lunch, packed lunches, dinner and late dinner counted.
The mission uses this time of year to let the community know it needs help beyond Christmas and year-round.
Those interested in making a donation or volunteering can get more information at KelownaGospelMission.ca.