The Bonnyville Friendship Centre is hosting their annual Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, October 8th. The dinner is free to everyone in the community, traditionally the Friendship Centre provides the meal through donations. However, this year donations are low and the non-profit organization will have to pay out-of-pocket if more donations do not come in.
Executive Director of the Friendship Centre, Pauline Mawer says it’s been a tough year for donations, “this is the worse I’ve seen it in all the years I’ve been here.” Along with the annual Thanksgiving Dinner, the centre also provdes the community Christmas Dinner, which will be held on December 10th. “It’s roughly $75 a turkey, we have them done at Hamels, in Bonnyville, and they cook them and everything is ready for us. It looks like this year we will have to pay for the turkey’s out of our emergency funds.”
The emergency funds are used to purchase food for the food bank when supplies are low. Sadly, it has been a tough year on the food bank, as well. Donations are lower than usual, yet the need is greater than ever.
Pauline says community members can help the Thanksgiving Dinner by sponsoring a turkey for $75.00 The sponsorship will come with a charity tax receipt. You can stop by the Friendship Centre to sponsor a turkey for the Thanksgiving Dinner, or you could sponsor two turkeys, one per event for $150.00. Friendship Centre is located on main street, Bonnyville 4711 50th Avenue.
Non-perishable food, cash donations, or grocery store gift cards for the food bank are always welcome and the centre has begun collecting unopened, new toys for Santa’s Anonymous. The Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners will be held at St. Louis Parish Hall in Bonnyville, doors open at 4:00 pm and dinner at 5:00 pm.
