Ridge Meadows Salvation Army cancels Thanksgiving drive-thru feast

The Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries will not be hosting the drive-thru Thanksgiving feast this year, citing COVID-safety concerns.

“Due to enhanced safety protocols, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our Thanksgiving Meal this holiday Monday,” read a social media post put out by the organization.

Executive-director for the Salvation Army, Mark Stewart, explained why they reached the decision to cancel the holiday feast which was open for everyone, and not just the clients of the organization.

“We have been practicing all the safety protocols through the pandemic and we just wanted to make sure we are being extra cautious. For an event like a drive-thru, there would have been 40-50 volunteers alone and on top of that people and clients coming in for meals,” he said, adding that with the changing vaccine passport requirements, COVID cases, etc., the organization decided to err on the side of caution.

“We still plan to hold the Christmas drive-thru feast like last year. So we will focus on just one such event.”

They have also cancelled all the outside Thanksgiving meals they had planned for Community Services and Seniors Network clients. There will still be a Thanksgiving dinner, but that would be restricted to just the clients of the food bank.

Last month, the Salvation Army had put a call out for turkeys for the feast. They were looking to receive upwards of 50 turkeys. However, according to Stewart, the organization didn’t receive as many turkeys and whatever many they did receive, they will use thgose for regular meals. They have also given out some of the turkeys to a few families.

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