The Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre will be serving Christmas dinner on the 24th.
Staff and volunteers have been busy preparing for what will be the first eat-in Christmas dinner since before the pandemic in 2019.
"We've done a few test runs to see how it's going to go," said Soup Kitchen Manager Ron Sim.
The traditional holiday dinner will be a sit-down affair with all the fixings including turkey, stuffing, gravy and pie.
People wanting to partake in the dinner will need a ticket, which will be available at the soup kitchen on James Street starting on Monday, Dec. 16. Doors open on the 24th at 11 a.m. and, if more people than will fit in one sitting get tickets, a second sitting will be provided.
Volunteers to serve dinner have been secured and are preparing for the event under the guidance of the soup kitchen's new volunteer coordinator.
Since the start of the pandemic in March of 2019 and until recently, the soup kitchen programs offering services in the centre were not available but staff and volunteers at the soup kitchen have been providing food and essentials to all of the local agencies.
"Some of them send out boxes to as many as 300 families and some of those families are large," Sim said.
The soup kitchen is in fairly good shape for most things so far, he added, but it's been a pattern where they start looking at empty shelves in March.
There are also some things they never have enough of.
"Toilet paper is like gold," Sim said.
He also said they are seeing more people looking for pet food.
"A lot of times it's an elderly person with their little dog or cat and we have to turn them away because we have no pet food. It just breaks my heart."
There is also always a need for hygiene items like toothpaste, soap, shampoo and such, he said.
"We also need canned (evaporated) milk. A lot of people bring in Kraft Dinner and cereal but people can't get milk," Sim said. "How are they supposed to have it without milk."
They will also be looking for more volunteers soon as they plan to reopen the drop-in centre and community kitchen in January.
Sim said volunteers are urged to reach out through the website.
The Soup Kitchen Community Centre has been working hard to prepare to welcome people again, but there are some challenges.
"We were starting to see some issues before COVID," Sim said. "We had some security issues."
Now, with the opioid crisis, the soup kitchen has taken measures to protect people dropping in, staff and volunteers when they open their doors in January.
There will be security people on site and they are looking at securing the bathrooms so guests will need to ask for the key to use them.
Volunteers will be provided with health, safety and other training appropriate for the roles they will be taking on. Sim said he hopes they will sign up soon so they can complete that training before January.
