Ottawa Mission's Thanksgiving Meal will be its biggest meal ever served
As Thanksgiving approaches, The Ottawa Mission is preparing the most meals it will ever serve.
It's a new reality as food prices soar and basic necessities stretch out of reach for many, leaving some who can no longer afford a turkey dinner.
For weeks, the kitchen at The Ottawa Mission operates all hours to be ready for a massive Thanksgiving crowd.
"We plan on serving about 12,000 meals in total," Executive Chef Ric Watson says. "We’re deboning, cooking and serving about 600 turkeys and right now we have about 500 done. We’re hoping to get another 100 donated. There will be about 2,000 pounds of mashed potatoes, 150 gallons of gravy. It’s just astronomical numbers; it’s our biggest meal we’ve ever had in the history of the Mission.”
Dinners will be delivered throughout the week until Sunday, serving 32 communities across the capital. On Monday, meals will be served to residents at The Ottawa Mission. COVID protocols are still in place, which means for others, food will be served to guests outdoors.
"The people that we’re getting these meals out to and that will come here on Monday to the Mission, they so appreciate it," Watson says. "And we’re talking elderly, we’re talking youth, we’re talking every walk of life people can’t afford to go to the grocery stores and buy a turkey.”
Demand for The Mission’s services is at a historic high. Last year, nearly one million people required a meal as the soaring cost of living stretched budgets and left some having to choose between a hot meal or a warm bed.
"We didn’t realize the incidents of hunger during the pandemic and now post-pandemic was so, so high," says CEO Peter Tilley. "And that’s a statement about what's happening in Ottawa, what’s happening across the country with this inflationary rates like never before. What we’re seeing now is a different face of hunger, a different face of poverty, a different face of people coming into the shelters."
Watson says the dedicated team is prepared to serve every person in the community who needs it.
"This is their Thanksgiving meal and we’re going to make it the best we can make it," he says. "The volunteers are the heartbeat of The Ottawa Mission and we can’t thank them enough,and our donors we can’t thank them enough."
Turkeys can be dropped off at the Ottawa Mission's garage located on Besserer Street, or cash donations can be made online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.