Inner City Roast Beef Dinner draws large crowds in downtown Edmonton

Hundreds of people lined up for the annual Inner City Roast Beef Dinner in downtown Edmonton on Sunday.

The event is organized by the Inner City Agencies Foundation. It was expected to serve 1,200 homeless or low-income people with a hot dinner at Boyle Street Plaza.

Cam McDonald, the executive director of Right at Home Housing Society, said it is a way to raise awareness of some of the issues going on in the inner city.

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“Poverty, housing, homelessness – what we do at this event is we, in a way, give back to the low-income residents in the community by providing them a roast beef dinner,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Poverty, housing, homelessness - what we do at this event is we, in a way, give back to the low-income residents in the community by providing them a roast beef dinner," he said.

“We just think it’s nice for people to have a treat every once in a while and not have to worry about having to scrounge for their next meal.”

The event kicks off Inner City Awareness Week, which runs until March 25.

“I think it’s important the general public see that there really still is a lot of people in poverty in the inner city neighbourhoods. It’s really incumbent on all of us, politicians, leaders in the community to really try and help ameliorate the situation and improve the quality of life for low income people,” McDonald said.

The event has run for 17 years.