Siloam Mission hosts early Thanksgiving

People celebrated Thanksgiving at Siloam Mission Friday, which means all morning staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to serve their meal.

In total, the team prepared 140 turkeys, 160 lbs of potatoes, 700 servings of stuffing and 120 lbs of cabbage for their annual sit-down meal for members of the community.

It was the culmination of two months of preparation, all to make sure every family in need had the space to be able to pause and be grateful as other Canadian families take the weekend to do the same.

“Today is special because the meal is actually served to them. It’s a sit-down meal, so they don’t have to get in line like they usually do. I think that’s really important,” said Stephen Kolody, a drop-in volunteer with Siloam Mission.

“I just love helping out. It’s my favourite place to be because I get a chance to interact with the community members,” said Kolody.

The retired teacher has been a drop-in volunteer for 12 years. Like it’s other volunteers, Kolody was up early in the morning so he could be one of many serving a hot Thanksgiving meal to our community members in need. He spent the day at Siloam Mission alongside his daughter — another long-term volunteer.

“It’s just so much fun and special to here on this special day,” he said.

Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, Siloam Mission’s CEO, said it was important for the humanitarian organization to offer a sit-down meal to the community during this time.

“Getting to partake in celebration, getting to be served a lovely meal, getting to be celebrated is just a really key part of making sure that people have access to dignity and self-worth and that’s crucial in their journey out of homelessness and into recovery,” she said.

Blaikie Whitecloud says Siloam Mission’s main goal is to make sure everyone who comes through their doors looking for help knows they’re worthy of love and worthy of care.

“Unfortunately, when I started in this sector now getting on about 15 years ago, the need wasn’t as high as it is today. We see that more and more folks are coming to experience homelessness.”

But Blaikie Whitecloud says when staff get to connect with the community and help, the initial relationship between the shelter and the person seeking services often blossoms into a new kind with Siloam Mission.

“That’s what’s beautiful. So many of our staff have used our services at some point in their life and are now turning around and helping other people. That’s what I’m pausing to give thanks for,” she said.