Union Gospel Mission serves thousands of Thanksgiving meals as demand goes up

A yearly tradition provided by the Union Gospel Mission continued Monday on the Downtown Eastside.

The Mission opened its doors for its annual Thanksgiving meal at 601 E. Hastings St, serving thousands of slices of turkey, scoops of mashed potatoes and spoonfuls of vegetables.

Volunteers worked through the weekend slicing the turkey and preparing vegetables for the meal.

1:36 Union Gospel Mission’s Thanksgiving meal returns for 34th year

The organization said it was ready to serve 2,200 meals throughout Monday.

It said demand for meals has tripled and it already serves about 800 meals daily.

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“It does take a small army to put on. There are like 90 to 100 volunteers who have helped us throughout the weekend and are helping us today and then we also have our staff who are very dedicated,” Nicole Mucci, spokesperson for the Union Gospel Mission told Global News on Monday.

“The goal is, of course, the meal but it is also our ability for community connection and to try to allow our community outreach workers to try to get those one-on-one conversations with folks started that we might not have gotten to meet otherwise.”

5:01 Union Gospel Mission Thanksgiving Meal