By Sheldon Spackman

Tradition Halted

No Thanksgiving dinner at Salvation Army this year

Oct 6, 2020 | 2:45 PM

Circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have halted the long-standing tradition of the Salvation Army hosting its annual Thanksgiving Day dinner in Red Deer.

Major Kent Hepditch acknowledges it’s unfortunate, but the right decision at this time.

“But we’re hoping to have a Christmas dinner on Christmas Day,” he suggests. “It looks like everything is coming into place for that.”

Hepditch notes, however, they will still hold a church service this weekend.

“On Thanksgiving Sunday, we’re going to have our first in-person service,” he explains. “People just need to call in to the office and register for that because of course there’s a limit on the number of seats. I think we’re able to do about 30 per cent of our capacity, so we’re looking at about 40 people maximum.”

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With the cancellation of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, Hepditch reminds residents that the Salvation Army food bank is still open to help those in need.

“People can just call in to the church and make an appointment for the food bank, that’s what we have right now,” he points out.

Originally from Newfoundland, Hepditch and his wife Dena arrived in Red Deer in the middle of August, following a posting in Bermuda.

Majors Kent and Dena Hepditch of the Salvation Army Red Deer. (Supplied)

After self-isolating for two weeks, then taking vacation time, Hepditch admits, he and his wife are just now getting into the swing of things.

“We absolutely love it,” he exclaims. “When we found out in April we were coming to Red Deer, it wasn’t on our radar at all. We thought we might come west, we sort of had those feelings, but in the Salvation Army, we don’t always know until move day where exactly we will be heading.”

“We are also of course planning for Christmas kettles and that’s going to look a little different this year,” he continues. “Most of our volunteers for the Christmas kettles would be 65 and over, so we’ll probably be very short on volunteers this year. But we appreciate all the community does to help us help others.”