Thanksgiving feast

For 14 years, serving a turkey dinner has become a family tradition among the Thunder Bay firefighters.

More than 30 firefighters and their families served helping handfuls of turkey, veggies and potatoes at the annual Salvation Army on Cumberland Street Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. It has become a time honoured tradition among the members to spent part of their day to help serve others.

Thunder Bay Firefighters Professional Association spokesman Scott Chisholm said he’s participated at the dinner since it first started. The Salvation Army wasn’t able to put on the dinner itself so the firefighters decided to band together and put on the feast for them.
Chisholm said it has become a family tradition to spend part of his Thanksgiving at the Salvation Army.

“It’s never enough when there’s a community need we respond to it that’s what we do for a living,” Chisholm said. “It’s a whole family tradition. It’s not just the firefighters come in and do a job and go home. It has become part of Thanksgiving tradition for the firefighters every year. I think this is a unique experience from both sides. You can see the relationships built over the years. I’ve seen kids who have come in here 14 years ago now are adults.”

One year when his son was serving a friend of his from school and Chisholm said that was a powerful moment.

The firefighters contributed $1,200 for the turkey dinner and all the trimmings. The meal was expected to serve about 300 people.

The Salvation Army’s Gail Kromm said she was thankful for the help from the firefighters and able to help so many people in need.

“We’re very happy that they have chosen to continue to sponsor this dinner and we’re able to make a different to all those people,” Kromm said. “For some of them it may be that they can’t have a dinner at all. Some are alone, they have no one to share their time with, and so this provides them with an opportunity to be with other people. They can have something like a family get together that you and I take for granted.”