THUNDER BAY – Gary Christian and his family have been serving up holiday meals at the Dew Drop Inn for a dozen or so years.
He figures it’s the least they can do.
The last thing he wants to see is someone going hungry on Thanksgiving or Christmas, when it’s so unnecessary.
“We’re fortunate enough that we have a good situation with our family, but as you can see, there’s lots of people who are hungry and scared, with COVID and other stuff,” said Christian on Monday, leading off the family assembly line at the turkey station.
“It’s nice to come here and make sure they get assurances, that they get a good meal every day. That’s important, because without food and water, what else do we have? It’s not much. It’s important to come out and support them.”
He added it’s obvious the numbers are growing, but the steadiness of the line outside the soup kitchen’s doors.
Michael Quibell, the executive director at the Dew Drop Inn, said Christian’s observation is spot on. The open invitation to the community is drawing more and more people each year, with rising food prices and the pandemic having a negative effect on people's ability to afford a decent meal.
The Regional Food Distribution Association cooked up about 500 pounds of turkey for the meal, and Quibell expects they’ll go through most, if not all of it, during the three-hour meal window, which closes at 3:30 p.m.
“I would say we’ve got 20 volunteers here today. In our first hour we served about 200 meals. I think we’re expecting around 600 today,” he said.
A year ago they served about 375.
Numbers aside, it’s the right thing to do, Quibell said.
“I think everyone deserve a good meal. At the holidays, I think everyone should have a turkey dinner.”
The meals also included dressing, mashed potatoes, pierogies and gravy and they were available for both take-out as well as a sit-down option for those who might not have a place to take their meal to eat.
