FILE PHOTO - Christmas dinner is served at Kelowna's Gospel Mission.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kelowna's Gospel Mission

Thanks to multiple charities across the Okanagan and Kamloops, hundreds of residents who remain unhoused this winter will get to enjoy a Christmas dinner this holiday season.

Kelowna's Gospel Mission will be serving between 240 and 260 homeless community members across two days, Executive Director Carmen Rempel told iNFOnews.ca. The highest number it has ever served. 

“It's a really sad, big number,” Rempel said.

On Saturday Dec. 23, the Mission will invite shelter guests, along with their significant others, to a Christmas lunch. Shelter alumni who have moved on to assisted housing will also be invited back.

The shelter and its outreach group will also be serving residents and individuals sheltering outside on both Dec. 23 and Christmas day.

“We're not shutting anything down,” Rempel said. “We're not downgrading, we're not reducing services.”

For these individuals, the holiday season can be especially difficult. Particularly this winter, with the unprecedented number of seniors who have found themselves on the streets.

“The thing that is on our radar and has our attention and claims our hearts is really our senior population," Rempel said. "There are folks who have been rent evicted and have nowhere to go. So, they usually end up sleeping in their cars for a while and then eventually they make it either onto the rail trail at the tent site or into our shelters.” 

Numbers have also risen due to increased food insecurity, Rempel explained. 

“We have a lot of people... that risk of losing their housing and they have to make decisions between rent and food," she said. "So, it's a growing number of people who are really struggling to make ends meet with the threat of homelessness. It's a very sad rise in that demographic that we're seeing.”

Rempel explained that Christmas meals provide many individuals a sense of connection that they wouldn’t otherwise have. Especially after the significant loss experienced by the community in the past few weeks due to health challenges, suspected suicide and drug overdoses.

"People who are lonely feel that loneliness even more during the holidays because it's the time that we miss family the most,” Rempel said. “So, grief is something to be acknowledged and to be handled really gently this time of year.”

During the Christmas period, the shelter is inundated with volunteers and often has to turn well-meaning helpers away. However, it still relies on monetary donations to feed hundreds of unhoused individuals. 

“We've tried to really bring dignity through putting on a pretty lavish meal because it's supposed to be special, right?,” Rempel said. “We go all out and all of that costs money."

In Penticton, Soupateria will also be handing out a turkey dinner to a record number of residents.

“We usually do about 140,” president Roderick Strike told iNFOnews.ca. “This year our numbers are way up so we have no idea.”

Last year, the organization was serving 60 people a day through its temporary winter shelters. This winter, the numbers have almost doubled.

On Christmas Day, the organization will serve a traditional dinner made by Strike himself. Each year, Strike says the community he serves is at a loss for words.

“Everybody’s super, super appreciative,” he said. “Then there's those who are unfortunately struggling with mental health issues and they don't really understand what's happening. In fact some will be somewhat confused with because they usually give choices every day.”

The organization is reliant on generous food and monetary donations from businesses and local residents to feed the Penticton's homeless community. 

“Some days we're overwhelmed with the food that we get from the local grocery stores,” Strike said. “Then there are days that we hardly get anything.”

In Kamloops, The Mustard Seed is encouraging members of the community who are experiencing homelessness, poverty or loneliness to gather for a traditional Christmas dinner on Dec. 22.

“I think Christmastime is less about the food and more about coming together,” James Giles, community chaplain at The Mustard Seed, said in a press release. “It is about seeing people where they are and supporting them emotionally and spiritually. The food is a part of that.”

Christmas dinner will take place at The Mustard Seed Outreach Centre on West Victoria at 5 p.m.

“There is hope to be found here, and sharing a meal around a table is a good place to start,” Giles said. “Being with a community of people who love them can remind them of better days, and hopefully, they will feel the love we put into the Christmas meal here at the Seed.”

In Vernon, the Upper Room Mission is decorated and ready to serve local residents on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 22.

"We have been getting ready at the Mission for Christmas," the mission said on its website. "Our place is all decorated and our Christmas tree is up. The kitchen is in full preparation mode for our Christmas Dinner."

Dinner will be served from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at its 27 Avenue location. After the meals, the organization will also be handing out backpacks which have been filled with winter gear and essential items by local community members.

According to its website, last year the Upper Room Mission was able to serve 41,634 meals to locals in need because of the charitable donations made by the Vernon community.

More information about The Mustard Seed can be found here.

More information about Kelowna's Gospel Mission can be found here.

More information about Penticton Soupateria can be found here.

More information about the Upper Room Mission can be found here.

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