‘Good vibes’ at Siloam Mission’s annual feast

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This article was published 24/12/2018 (2839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Christmas came a day early for 800 guests and more than 100 volunteers at Siloam Mission’s annual Christmas Eve feast.

“It’s such an exciting day. It’s such an important day that it draws community together around a hot nutritious meal: a turkey dinner and all the trimmings,” said Siloam Mission CEO Jim Bell.

The dining hall was already filling up an hour before the meal was served at noon. Volunteers, some in Santa or elf hats, gathered in the kitchen slicing turkeys, scooping coleslaw and cranberry sauce.

The annual Christmas meal brings together more people than any other event at Siloam. Not only do people in need get a classic Christmas meal with all the trimings, but the Yuletide mood lifts the spirits of guests and volunteers alike.

“There are good vibes this time of the year,” said Ray Caribou, 37, who is frequently at the Siloam Mission Drop-In for a meal. “There are a lot of smiley people.”

“Every time each of us come to Siloam we feed our stomachs, but we also feed our souls,” said Mayor Brian Bowman, as he thanked volunteers and encouraged the guests to look out for their loved ones and neighbours during the holidays. “We want the message to be today, here, and throughout the year that we care about our neighbours, we care about our fellow Winnipeggers and we love them.”

Though the Siloam Mission Christmas meal has been happening for many years, this is the second year that Chiefs at Christmas have partnered with Siloam to bring together First Nations representatives to give hope to Indigenous guests at Monday’s meal. The founder of Chiefs at Christmas, Gilbert Fredette from Norway House, said that his group is about leaders meeting with and enjoying the company of Indigenous people who have fallen on hard times. “A lot of them are far from home and unfortunately not a lot of them make it home. So we are here to say ‘don’t give up, we are here for you’”.

“I am going to be very proudly handing out meals and helping out as much as I can to spread that cheer and help people see that First Nations representatives are here on the ground and not just looking over,” said Fredette. To the guests of the meal he said “We are here to serve you, our brothers and sisters from all over Manitoba.”

The volunteers and staff at Siloam Mission aim to bring hope and a sense of community to people seeking food and a warm place to spend the day. “It’s not about coming to fix somebody because you are perfect. It’s about coming to connect with someone because that teaches you that you are not perfect and that you need fixing,” said John Janzen, Community Education Coordinator at Siloam Mission. “You always see with volunteers… they say “you know I feel like I came here to fix and help, but now I feel like I am the one getting fixed and helped.”

liane.carter@freepress.mb.ca