Ross Beach, Owner of Rossco's Pub (Photo by Colton McKee)

By Hayley Ferguson

Holiday Spirit

Rossco’s Pub cooks 200 individual turkey dinners for food bank

Dec 16, 2019 | 5:33 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – For many, Christmas dinner with friends, family, and turkey is the centerpiece of their holidays.

For some, that isn’t the case though.

“We always think of Christmas as a being such a great happy time. But for some folks, it can be a really lonely time,” said Celina Symmonds, the executive director of the Medicine Hat and District Food Bank.

That’s why Rossco’s Pub has cooked 200 individual turkey dinners for the food bank’s clients, many of whom will be alone for the holidays.

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Symmonds says that having a home-cooked meal will mean more than just a meal to the people receiving them.

“To know that somebody like Ross from Roscoe’s cares about you and thought about you this Christmas season, that really means something,” Symmonds said. “And homemade turkey dinner, there’s not much better than that. And the fact that Ross came to us with this idea and thought of it himself. It’s just so touching to think that he thought ahead to those folks that would be alone on Christmas Day.”

Rossco’s owner Ross Beach said he was inspired after taking part in the food bank’s Brown Bag Lunch program.

“Celina and I had been chatting and thought this would be a wonderful time for us to give back as well to the community. And to the individuals that don’t have any families and would like to have a turkey dinner,” Beach continued. “Everybody in this city is very gracious and steps up to the plate to donate to the food bank. But during Christmas time, this is the time you can actually sit down and have an actual turkey dinner.”

Beach says that each container will have six ounces of turkey as well as mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, and cranberries.

“Our chefs and I have been frantically doing all the preparation the last couple of days,” Beach smiled. “All of my chefs donated their time yesterday morning to do this so that has been special. They all felt really good that this is going to somebody that doesn’t have a Christmas dinner.”

The food bank will be distributing the meals in the coming days.