Dinner is served

Christmas cheer filled the hallways of the Cumberland Salvation Army.

Hundreds packed into the dinner room for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings on Sunday.  Staff from the Valhalla Inn cooked and served the food to the hungry patrons and has done so every holiday season for the past 18 years.

Valhalla Inn head Chief Herbert Kraus has become a familiar face at the dinner. He along with about 15 other volunteers prepared and served the meal. Kraus had some extra help when his 11-year-old-daughter Shania volunteered to serve.

Kraus and Shania have volunteered for more than seven years and both agreed that it felt good to give back to the community.
“It’s a good thing for us to do and it makes people happy during the Christmas season,” Kraus said. “It feels good to be cooking for people who are in need. It’s reward because you know you have done a good deed.”

With more than 300 people expected at the dinner, Kraus said he was used to catering that many people and wasn’t worried.
René Gurtner, general manager at the Valhalla Inn, said the annual dinner started because the hotel staff wanted to give something back to the community and found the dinner to be an excellent way to do so.

“We have been doing this for such a long time and it is just the right thing to do,” Gurtner said. “We have a lot of volunteers that come out and they look forward to it every year.”

Instead of a Christmas pudding, the Valhalla Inn changed the menu a bit and baked a yule log. Gurtner said they didn’t have the necessary ingredients to make the pudding so they thought the yule log would be a suitable replacement.

Across the hallway from the dinner room, children were able to pay a visit to Santa Claus. The jolly old elf gave every good boy and girl a present and a candy cane.

Gail Kromm, spokeswoman for the Salvation Army, said they wouldn’t have been able to put on the dinner without the help of the Valhalla Inn staff. She said it makes everyone feel a little special to have food prepared by one of Thunder Bay’s top hotels.

With so many people in need, Kromm said if they are unable to help they always direct them to someplace where they can get assistance.

“We just prepare for the people that are coming here,” Kromm said. “We ask the community to support us and they have been fantastic. They really come to the table. Every time we ask for a little bit more they say yes. There are some times when you run out of time and we have to look at what other options are out there that can also support people. If we aren’t able to help in some fashion then we would try to steer them to an agency that was able to help them.”