‘It is a big job’: Saskatoon Friendship Inn serves 1,300 Thanksgiving lunches

The Saskatoon Friendship Inn played host Monday to one of the biggest turkey dinners served in the city on Thanksgiving.

Seventy turkeys, 300 pounds of potatoes, and dozens and dozens of carrots and cranberries were served at the Friendship Inn, a local community centre with roots as a soup kitchen.

Alongside dozens of volunteers, cook Delphine Codotte helped oversee it all.

She has been cooking at the Friendship Inn for six years and had been preparing for Monday’s event for weeks.

“I’ve been prepping now personally for three months, doing all my carrots and vegetables,” Codotte said.

Organizers expected to feed around 1,300 at the annual meal, but Codotte still prepped for 1,600 because she “never wants to run out of food.”

Any leftovers will not go to waste, as they’ll be used for a meal at the centre on Tuesday.

“It is a big job,” Codotte said. “I’ve been a hands-on person since I was five, six years old. It’s in me to keep up with the crowd. I work very good with a fast-paced world, then I get to rest.”

The Friendship Inn is open seven days a week, serving both breakfast and lunch, averaging up to 1,000 meals a day.

Executive director Sandra Stack says the facility is busy every single day.

“We know that hunger has no season. We’re here 365 days a year. Yesterday was just as busy as it’s going to be on Tuesday, and people are really struggling to make ends meet right now in our city.”

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“The people need a place to go. The people, they use the Friendship Inn a lot, and a lot of them are very, very thankful that they come here to eat,” Codotte said.

“Every day we’re thankful at the Friendship Inn for the generosity of our community, but to sit together as a family and come to eat your meal together is really important,” Stack added.