Thanksgiving lunch at Mannawanis

There’s a free Thanksgiving lunch happening at the Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre on Friday.

The meal will feature turkey, mashed potatoes, and some vegetables according to Hinano Rosa, the executive director of the centre.

“Normally we do our annual Thanksgiving and Christmas suppers and because of COVID we had to think of another way to do that without cutting it out,” said Rosa.

“Our idea is to do the same thing we did for National Indigenous People’s Day. So we make the plates, we box them up, and then if people don’t have a place to go they can come in to the centre and with social distancing they can eat inside.”

To ensure safety for both clients and staff, he said they will have masks and sanitation stations for anyone who wants to come inside to eat.

Rosa and the rest of the staff at the Mannawanis will be cooking all the food at the centre in the morning before they start handing the meals out at noon.

He said they’re only making 200 plates because they’re not sure how many people to expect.

“We’re also going to be doing a delivery to elders in the community that we’ve identified,” said Rosa, noting the Mannawanis has been doing outreach work and providing food to elders since May using some of their COVID funding from the federal government.

Thanksgiving lunches can be picked up from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the back entrance of the Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre, located at 4901 – 50 St in St. Paul.