VANCOUVER – More than 3,000 people are expected to enjoy a hot meal today at the Union Gospel Mission’s annual Thanksgiving celebration.
Staff and volunteers have been prepping for weeks to feed so many people.
They will be serving up 800 pounds of turkey, 800 pounds of mashed potatoes, 800 pounds of stuffing, 700 pounds of vegetables and 800 pumpkin pies.
This is not only a chance to provide people in the DTES a hot meal on Thanksgiving, it is also to provide those people with a sense of family and let them know there are some services they can take advantage of as well.
“Anytime we’re serving a meal, an emergency service, it’s a chance to connect with someone if they have an immediate need that they’re aware of,” said Keela Keeping from the Union Gospel Mission. “But obviously they ended up there for certain reasons and are going to need more help, more support.”
“So it’s a way to connect with outreach workers, to get informed about recovery, drug and alcohol recovery, to get informed about housing, emergency shelters and all the sorts of different programs that we have.”
There are 250 volunteers working the three Union Gospel Mission locations, which has been providing Thanksgiving meals for more than 30 years.
Bill Mollard from UGM talks to Samantha Falk about the dinner:
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