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Serving The Community

Salvation Army set to serve up Thanksgiving dinner this weekend

Oct 10, 2019 | 3:19 PM

As millions of Canadians prepare to join family or friends for a Thanksgiving meal this long weekend, officials with the Salvation Army in Red Deer wish to invite members of the community to their annual Thanksgiving Dinner on Monday.

The Oct. 14 event runs from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. and is a free community meal to be held at the Salvation Army Church at 4837 54 Street in Red Deer.

Major Larry Bridger says the annual event has been held for roughly 10 years now.

“It is open to anybody who would like to come, especially those that are on the lower end of the scale income-wise,” says Bridger. “We have seniors who are maybe on their own or would like to just come out and share Thanksgiving dinner with other people, and of course families, they’re more than welcome.”

For those seeking volunteer opportunities to give back to the community, Bridger admits they could always use a few more.

“If they are available, we would like them to certainly call our office,” he exclaims. “Our Christmas dinner is always a big one, we usually have more volunteers than what we need but Thanksgiving is a little bit different. It seems like we don’t get as many volunteers, so we could use a few, that’s for sure.”

Though the number of people attending the Salvation Army’s Thanksgiving dinner over the past few years has been down according to Bridger, he says they typically feed between 200-230 people during the gathering.

“We would like to see people if they are going to be alone or just want to come out for a dinner, it’s free,” adds Bridger. “It’s turkey dinner with all the trimmings and we would not want people to stay home. It’s a time to get together for a good meal and also share some fellowship with other people.”

Bridger anticipates the Salvation Army’s annual Christmas Kettle campaign and Adopt-A-Family program to kick-off in mid-November.