More than 16,000 Thanksgiving dinners provided by the Ottawa Mission this year
The Ottawa Mission served its first Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room in four years on Monday.
This year, more than 2,500 guests enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings. For over a century, the Ottawa Mission has been providing an extended family for those without.
Clients like Julie Archambault visited the Mission to see friends and enjoy a hearty meal. She comes a couple of times a week. The support the Mission provides keeps her going and puts a smile on her face.
"I like to reunite with my friends around and have a great supper," Archambault said. "I feel love and caring around me."
That care is something all those gathered on Monday feel. Oat Hollinger and her family have been volunteering for more than 10 years. They come and help with all the big celebrations, including Christmas and Easter. Hollinger says being here is about building community and supporting others.
"They are all really appreciative and just feel good about it," Hollinger said. "They really enjoy coming here; they sometimes just want to chat so you just have a chat with them."
With inflation affecting the cost of everything—food prices most of all—this dinner is needed more than ever. The Mission says it supplied more than 16,000 meals this Thanksgiving season.
Ottawa Mission CEO Peter Tilley says they are serving twice as many meals as they were just a couple of years ago. In the past year alone, the Ottawa Mission served more than one million meals, with 7,000 a week provided by their food truck program to underprivileged locations throughout the capital.
"So many people can't buy groceries and put food on their table. Many people I've seen who left the Mission three to four years ago and doing very well, they are now coming here to get a meal a couple of times a week," Tilley said. "There are many people here today who would not be able to purchase a turkey today, so let us do that, let our donors take care of that for you and come in and have a great meal."
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