Siloam Mission helps spread Christmas cheer with special lunch celebration

Siloam Mission prepared 700 meals as part of a Christmas celebration on Dec. 20, 2024. (Glenn Pismenny/CTV News Winnipeg)

Siloam Mission helped ensure everyone was able to feel some Christmas joy Friday.

The organization prepared and served 700 meals during the lunch hour as part of its Christmas celebration.

“Just super important that people have an opportunity to gather with their family, whether that’s biological or chosen, to celebrate and get invested in that Christmas spirit,” said Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, the CEO of Siloam Mission.

She said months of prep work went into serving the meals Friday, and it was all possible thanks to the endless number of volunteers.

The meal was a full Christmas special—from the turkey all the way to the cranberry sauce—everyone received the full spread.

On top of the volunteers, she said they had people hand delivering donations to help with the day.

However, Blaikie Whitecloud said donations were down this year, with one of the main factors being the Canada Post strike.

“One of the ways that we normally do that is that in our mailouts to donors, we send a placemat for donors to colour and send back with their contribution. Unfortunately, donations are down because of the Canada Post delays, so we haven’t been getting those back.”

She noted Winnipeggers still stepped up to make sure this day was enjoyable for all who came.

As for those who showed up for the meal, Blaikie Whitecloud said there is more demand every year, and the diversity of people needing assistance has really shown.

“We’re seeing a lot more seniors. So, seniors are either getting rent evicted or the cost of food and their medication is pricing them out of their housing. So, we do have a lot more seniors coming into homelessness, which is really unfortunate. We’re also seeing more newcomers. But otherwise, it’s kind of that core population, and so it’s about how do we make sure that we’re adapting our services to meet all of those needs.”

She pointed out the increased demand also shows the city needs to do better to address homelessness.

“So that the demand can go down. So that more people have a place to celebrate in their own home and the finances to do that.”