Church set to welcome dozens of hungry Londoners for Christmas dinner | CBC News

It’s a feast fit for 138 people.

That’s how many Londoners have signed up to receive a nourishing turkey dinner with all the trimmings on Christmas Day at St. George’s Anglican Church in London, Ont.

The church, located along Wharncliffe Road North near the city’s Blackfriars neighbourhood, has been holding the annual Christmas dinner for 15 years. Monday’s dinner, which gets underway at 12:30, is the first to be held in person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The free hot meal comes at a time when more and more Londoners are finding it harder to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table amid high inflation and housing costs.

“This year seems as if more people have called in. We’ve usually just had 100, but this year, it just seems like there’s been more people calling,” said Christine Fortner, Community Outreach and Hospitality Meals Coordinator at the church. 

While 138 people registered ahead of time, some may not show up, while others may come in off the street, Fortner said. In those cases, they try not to turn anyone away, assuming there’s enough food.

“I believe we’re the only church in London that’s doing a Christmas Day dinner,” Fortner said, referencing the community meal calendar prepared by Hunger Relief Action Coalition.

A small group of volunteers is helping put the meal together, setting up tables, decorating, and cooking 10 turkeys purchased for the occasion. Meal preparations will begin in earnest at the church after Sunday night’s Christmas Eve service, and continue on Christmas morning.

In addition to the bird, diners will tuck into mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, cranberry sauce, and dessert squares, served with coffee, milk, and water.

When CBC News visited the church early Sunday afternoon, volunteers were still hard at work getting the church’s dining hall ready, putting out dozens of glasses and plates, each topped with a red or green napkin, on long tables which stretched from one end of the room to the other.

Window ledges could be seen adorned with small decorative houses sitting atop a cushion of white fabric. 

“It’s important that it looks like Christmas, it feels like Christmas, and everybody feels like they’re loved,” said Elaine Fontana, who was among those setting up. Fontana conducts outreach services at the church, and is involved in a coffee and food drop-in service held every Thursday.

“It’s worse and worse, more people on the streets, more people without, and more people lonely… The people that come on a Thursday, will start asking in early November, ‘Will there be a Christmas dinner?’ All year can be tough, but at Christmas, everybody needs to belong to somebody, right?”

Accompanying the Christmas meal will be Christmas carols performed by three musicians, with songbooks handed out to diners.

Asked why it was important to host such a Christmas Day dinner, Fortner replied, “Just to feed people.”

“We have many, many hungry people in our city. Where else would they go to have a Christmas meal?”

Help us fight hunger by considering a donation to the London Food Bank. Until the end of Dec., CBC London is raising money for Londoners in need through our Sounds of the Season campaign. For more details, click on the link.