It's Thanksgiving weekend, a time to count the blessings you have in life, and, of course, enjoy some turkey.
The folks at the Blue Door Soup Kitchen are giving thanks not only for the turkey lunch served to clients Friday, but also a $50,000 renovation to its home in the Samaritan Centre on Elgin Street.
“We've put in a new serving counter, a sneeze guard, all stainless steel, and stainless steel counters,” said Bob Johnston, public relations co-ordinator with the soup kitchen.
“It's much cleaner, safer for our clients and staff … It's the first major renovation we've ever done.”
He said the soup kitchen was able to upgrade its facility thanks to donations from community members, including some contributions from the estates of supporters who have recently passed on.
Johnston said the soup kitchen was expecting up to 250 people to show up for its Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Some clients wouldn't otherwise eat a holiday meal this weekend.
“There's a lot of people who are coming here for many different reasons,” he said. “One is for the social life, because they have no family and so on.”
Soup kitchen client Lisa Boudreau said she likes how the soup kitchen facility looks after the renovations.
“I like the way it's put together,” she said. “It looks clean — very nice.”
While Boudreau said she might attend a family Thanksgiving meal this weekend, she said she appreciates the soup kitchen's efforts to make sure everyone is able to take part in the holiday.
“There's people that need good food instead of having no food at all,” she said.
Allan Young, also a soup kitchen client, said he probably wouldn't otherwise eat a turkey dinner this weekend, adding it “feels good” to eat the traditional Thanksgiving meal.
He said the renovations look nice.
“It looks good,” Young said. “It looks hospitable.”
