Published March 2024
To celebrate the Christmas season, 800 Christmas meals were prepared at our commercial kitchen on Queen Street and were served at four different locations during the Christmas season. Chef Michael Bertling and volunteers cooked and chopped hundreds of pounds of turkey, potatoes, carrots and bread so that they could be served at four Christmas meals.
On Thursday December 21, about 550 meals were served at a special Christmas dinner at St. John’s Kitchen. The annual St. John’s Christmas dinner has a special focus for those living in encampments and the wider community who regularly use St. John’s Kitchen. It was memorable to once again serve the Christmas meal in the gymnasium of St. John’s Anglican Church. The Christmas meal, Michael Bertling stresses, “is a chance for people to have a hot meal, that reminds people of home, reminds them that they’re loved.”
The other 250 meals were served on Christmas Day at the three shelters. All three shelters set up to offer a Christmas sit down meal. The King Street Shelter set up tables for 100 people and Michael Kelly offered music. Both University Avenue Dorms and the Erb’s Road Shelter also offered a full Christmas meal. Chef Michael has been doing Christmas Dinner for the last three years and describes it as “the best job ever. It fulfills me in my heart.”
Food and celebration are the foundations of community.
