Hundreds of meals handed out in Edmonton on Thanksgiving

Edmonton -

The spirit of giving was strong on holiday Monday in Edmonton, with organizations around the city providing meals to some of its most vulnerable.

NAIT culinary students spent days prepping over 300 Thanksgiving meals to be handed out at Boyle Street.

“There’s a lot of families relying on this food just to eat,” said Jessie Kushneryk with the Edmonton Chef’s Association/

Students were able to gain experience in cooking for a crowd, before the meals were loaded onto a truck to Boyle Street and individually packaged.

“It’s really important, just for a sense of inclusion and community, that this day is special for everyone and they get to feel included in some kind of celebratory meal,” said Justine Pelletier with Boyle Street Community Services. “It’s also really important because it’s starting to get colder outside, so having something that’s a warm, hot meal instead of just a bag lunch can make a really big difference.”

Due to COVID-19, tables were set up outside so everyone could enjoy their Thanksgiving meal safely.

“You don’t really get a chance to congregate, so it’s just nice to have people that are in the struggle with you and to just enjoy this,” meal recipient Mark Howarth said.

“It raises a person’s spirits, it puts some calories in their bodies, and reminds them of a better time.”

Elsewhere in the city, the Rotary Club of Edmonton held a curbside pickup Thanksgiving dinner Monday afternoon.

After being forced to skip their usual event last year due to COVID-19, the club says it was important to come up with an idea that would allow them to feed the community safely.

“For us it’s been a little bit of a harder time to get out into the community to do as many projects as we’d like,” president of Rotary southeast Edmonton Nimrit Nijjaar said. “But now that we know this is going to be a little bit more of a new normal for us, we’re willing to come up with whatever concept it is to help others out and give back to our community.”

The club worked with a chef from La Formaggio restaurant to prepare over 500 meals, which were handed out curbside at Leefield Community Hall by volunteers.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to see everyone come together during this time, given that there’s been so much isolation in the past year,” Nijjaar said. “And to be able to come up with a concept such as this, and come and help each other out in whatever little form it could be – whether it was financial, whether it was peoples’ time – it’s been unbelievable, and honestly it really warms the heart.”