A very different Thanksgiving at the Gathering Place

It was a different Thanksgiving at the Gathering Place in North Bay on Monday. 

Staff and volunteers at the soup kitchen on Cassells Street served more than 220 meals according to Gathering Place executive director Dennis Chippa.  

"The staff was at it all weekend, the staff started cooking on Friday. Saturday and Sunday they were prepping so we could be ready for Monday," said Chippa. 

Chippa says he is not surprised at the turnout. They served many meals but Chippa says that is not an alarming amount. In fact, that's close to normal these days. 

"We anticipated over 200, just based on what we are seeing now on a daily basis," he said. 

"It is not uncommon for us on a typical evening meal to see 200 people come in now. So to do a special meal like Thanksgiving we knew we were going to have to prepare for more and the folks from Tokyo Smoke were great to sponsor it so that took a lot of pressure off of us."

Of course in these days of COVID-19, there was no big gathering for supper inside a church; only a handful of seats on the patio and the rest of the meals were all served as takeout. 

It is also a tough time of year to be alone.   

"While it was a special meal, for us it was just another meal because that is what we do every day now," admitted Chippa.  

It is also a tough time of year to be alone.  

"The sad part for our folks because of COVID-19 is that they can't exactly enjoy a day like they could in the past where we can sit around and all visit but I am sure they enjoyed the food just as much and they are pretty friendly with each other," he said.