In a hot kitchen across the street from the Ainslie Street bus terminal are a handful of volunteers who have spent the last two days cooking and peeling vegetables for Thanksgiving weekend.
The 519 Community Collective (519CC) has around 400 pounds of turkey and several hundred pounds of vegetables ready to be served at locations in Cambridge and Kitchener.
"Volunteers have been able to cook up and we'll have served, by Saturday, 850 full turkey dinners with turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce, even a dessert and a drink," said Julie Sawatzky, founder of the 519CC.
On Sat. Oct. 12, from 5 to 6 p.m. Sawatzky and around 35 volunteers will be serving the free hot meal to around 450 people here in Cambridge.
Meals will be going out to all of the encampments in the city and plates will be handed out at their 26 Ainslie St. S. headquarters.
On Friday afternoon, the volunteers in Cambridge had already peeled 75 pounds of carrots, 200 pounds of potatoes and cooked 200 pounds of turkey with the blisters on their hands to show for it.
Volunteer Danielle Brett has been a long-time supporter and understands how easy it is for someone to be in the position of needing help.
"My very first time here I went home and I cried because I was like, that could easily be me," said Brett. "Everybody's one paycheque away. I sacrificed my time so that way it's more like giving back and just seeing people come in and smile, that's enough payment for me."
The kitchen leads Char Reid and Shelia Labelle have been instrumental in running a successful meal day for the collective.
"We're out here because we know that there is a need and fill that void," said Labelle.
Sawatzky adds that anyone can come and grab a plate of food whether they be homeless, low-income or international students; everyone is welcome.
