It was hard to miss the spirit of Thanksgiving in downtown Cambridge Thursday afternoon as volunteers from 519 Community Collective busily prepared a full Thanksgiving meal for those most vulnerable in the community.
Hundreds lined up outside the organization’s headquarters at 26 Ainslie St. S., and volunteers were ready to serve a free turkey dinner to anyone in the community looking for a hot meal.
From struggling families, those experiencing homelessness, or those who might otherwise spend the holiday alone and are just looking to see a friendly face, Julie Sawatzky, founder of 519 Community Collective, said that everyone deserves to have a nice Thanksgiving meal.
“This is life giving. We might be exhausted but it feels so good to serve people that really deserve to have a meal with ‘a family kind of vibe’. Many don’t have a family that they are connected with. They have really been looking forward to this,” Sawatzky said.
People could get a meal 'to go' or were able to sit down and enjoy a full traditional Thanksgiving dinner with friends, complete with all the fixings.
There were also racks of clothing available, and volunteers also handed out sandwiches, fresh fruit, and over 150 blessing bags, full of items to keep people warm and other necessities.
“We want people to come and say hello, have a meal, and take blessing bag with them,” Sawatzky said. “We just want them to enjoy a huge Thanksgiving dinner.”
This wasn’t the first time this week that the organization has reached out to those in need before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Over the past week, Sawatzky and her team have been busy sending out almost 600 dinners between Tuesday and Friday across Waterloo Region.
“All this week, we have been serving meals at hotels that are acting as shelters, at encampments, and to seniors and families in Cambridge, just everywhere. It’s a whole lot of food,” Sawatzky said.
“In Cambridge alone, we’ve had about 25 volunteers helping out it so many ways these last few days. We have so many hands-on deck, doing everything that needs to get done so that we can focus on bringing this to the community. It’s amazing how it all comes together.”
519 Community Collective, a grassroots organization was created in March 2020, during the pandemic. Today the organization offers 12 programs including a community fridge nourish kitchen, a little free pantry project, two urban gardens, and emergency food programs.
For volunteer Barry Green, helping to serve meals, was a way to give back to his community.
“I want to support my community. It’s done so much for me. I just want to give back. The people at 519 Community Collective are here, and people should know that they are here for them,” Green said.
“It’s so amazing to see all of these people coming together, stepping up and helping their community.”
There were over 200 turkey dinners served at 519 Community Collective on Thursday.
“They deserve this,” Sawatzky said. “I know that for many of them, this is their Thanksgiving dinner, here with us, with people that love them.”
