Residents line up to receive a free Thanksgiving meal Monday at The Mustard Seed ( Tiffany Goodwein/ CHAT NEWS Today)

By Tiffany Goodwein

‘It means a lot:’ City’s vulnerable receive Thanksgiving meals

Oct 12, 2020 | 9:28 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB It’s just after 10 a.m., and a line forms outside The Mustard Seed. Raindrops dribble on the cement as people wait for coffee, conversation, and the chance to receive a Thanksgiving meal.

“It means a lot because there’s a lot of homeless people in the city and they are really thankful and grateful that they have food that they can have,” said one woman named Ashley.

For Ashley relying on a free Thanksgiving meal is something she never thought she would need to do. She suddenly became homeless earlier this year after getting evicted from her apartment.

” We slept everywhere. We slept on the grass, on the ground, underneath things, just to stay warm,” she said.

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She has since found a place to live and is getting back on her feet.

Another visitor to the Mustard Seed on Thanksgiving was Cheryl and her pet bird Zeus.

“It means a lot in the troubled times we are in, and since I can’t be with my family this year it really means a lot,” she said.

Cheryl has not had a stove in her apartment for months which makes coming to the Mustard Seed one of the only ways she receives a hot meal

“I like coming here. It’s like therapy for me. Talk to people, make friends, we help each other out when we can, ” she said.

Cheryl and Ashley’s meals were just two of the 85 meals that were distributed by 10 a.m.

” We wanted to make sure our homeless and vulnerable would still receive a meal on a typical holiday day so here we are today cooking between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m for all those on this rainy Monday morning,” said Colette Eirich, managing director of The Mustard Seed Medicine Hat.

Later in the evening, another line forms outside the Salvation Army downtown. Like The Mustard Seed, Thanksgiving was done a little differently this year.

” Well obviously previous years, we were inside, COVID-19 has changed how we do everything. Here we have not stopped serving throughout the whole summer throughout COVID-19. We’ve continued with our meal it is just outside, ” said Captain Lorenda Dale.

One of the people in line for a Thanksgiving meal was a man named Hassan who immigrated to Canada six years ago from South Africa. He said while the free Thanksgiving meal is greatly appreciative, more needs to be done to lift people like himself out of poverty.

” We don’t need a piece of bread or a piece of fish. The city has to teach us how to catch the fish, so that we don’t become reliable for reporting here all the time, ” he said.

” There is a lot of variety of issues that are very much concerning. Especially for me as an immigrant who has lived in the city for five years. We don’t have an opportunity like the rest of all. It might read all but it is very hard because my name is Hassan, the only place I can expect to work is on the production line like that tomato place,” he said.

Still, as the meals went out, the spirit of Thanksgiving, encompassing food, friendship, and giving thanks, was evident throughout.