Splendor Banquet
Last year a friend told me about this volunteer dinner down at the Telus Convention Centre and Peter and I went and had a great time so we decided to do it again this year along with the majority of Peter's basketball team and some of the girls from the women's team.
For some reason a lot of people have never heard about this so I have included the add from the newspaper.
The lineup of volunteers nearly matched the length of the one for people being served as 650 warm-hearted Calgarians turned out to serve a festive feast to the city's less fortunate.
And while giving should be a way of life, Christmas is a particularly special time of year for sharing, said Pastor Phil Nordin of Jubilee Christian Centre, at 458 35 Ave. N.W.
For the past 18 years, the minister, wife Joan and their congregation at the north-side church have helped organize the annual Splendor Banquet, held at the Telus Convention Centre.
"The need continues to grow," Nordin said.
Churches and businesses also took part in serving a turkey dinner with all the trimmings to about 3,500 of the city's poorest residents.
"It's our Christian duty and the responsibility of every Christian to provide and help the poor," Nordin said.
"So I have the greatest respect for groups like the Mustard Seed, CUPS and the Drop-In Centre, who do it every day -- they're the heroes."
Volunteers Dan Schultz and Vicki Naujoks said it brought back memories of past holidays when they were the ones being helped.
"We've been pretty fortunate over the years," Schultz said.
"But we've had to get a hand up over the years at times, so now we can give back."
There for dinner with his wife Margaret Kazias, 42-year-old Calgarian Richard Goodwin said he too hopes someday he can find a good job and be on the serving side at such events.
"It's nice at Christmas time to have nice things like these happen to the homeless," Goodwin said.
Next year I hope to inform more people because the more help they can get the better. And it's really nice to do something for so many people, especially at Christmas. We have to remember that Christmas is not a wonderful time for many people, and serving at the dinner opens your eyes to that. The people are so grateful for a turkey dinner it makes you realize how thankful we should be for all that we have in our lives and not to sweat the small stuff as a lot of people have it a lot worse than we do.
So if anyone is interested next year just let us know and we can give you all the info.
For some reason a lot of people have never heard about this so I have included the add from the newspaper.
The lineup of volunteers nearly matched the length of the one for people being served as 650 warm-hearted Calgarians turned out to serve a festive feast to the city's less fortunate.
And while giving should be a way of life, Christmas is a particularly special time of year for sharing, said Pastor Phil Nordin of Jubilee Christian Centre, at 458 35 Ave. N.W.
For the past 18 years, the minister, wife Joan and their congregation at the north-side church have helped organize the annual Splendor Banquet, held at the Telus Convention Centre.
"The need continues to grow," Nordin said.
Churches and businesses also took part in serving a turkey dinner with all the trimmings to about 3,500 of the city's poorest residents.
"It's our Christian duty and the responsibility of every Christian to provide and help the poor," Nordin said.
"So I have the greatest respect for groups like the Mustard Seed, CUPS and the Drop-In Centre, who do it every day -- they're the heroes."
Volunteers Dan Schultz and Vicki Naujoks said it brought back memories of past holidays when they were the ones being helped.
"We've been pretty fortunate over the years," Schultz said.
"But we've had to get a hand up over the years at times, so now we can give back."
There for dinner with his wife Margaret Kazias, 42-year-old Calgarian Richard Goodwin said he too hopes someday he can find a good job and be on the serving side at such events.
"It's nice at Christmas time to have nice things like these happen to the homeless," Goodwin said.
Next year I hope to inform more people because the more help they can get the better. And it's really nice to do something for so many people, especially at Christmas. We have to remember that Christmas is not a wonderful time for many people, and serving at the dinner opens your eyes to that. The people are so grateful for a turkey dinner it makes you realize how thankful we should be for all that we have in our lives and not to sweat the small stuff as a lot of people have it a lot worse than we do.
So if anyone is interested next year just let us know and we can give you all the info.
posted by Peter James at 8:39 AM
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