Students help prepare for LSCO Christmas dinner

By Toyin Obatusin - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on December 21, 2024.

Herald photo by Toyin Obatusin Hannah Dupuis, LSCO fund development and marketing coordinator, at centre, with Sara Froese and Nelly Peters and other students from Chamberlain and Arden T. Litt schools in Grassy Lake, help prepare for the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization's 40th anniversary Christmas dinner.

The Lethbridge Senior Citizens organization will celebrate its 40th annual Christmas dinner for those in need or who will be alone on Dec. 25.

While the turkey dinner is courtesy of the LSCO, the holiday decorations that go along with it came from volunteers from Chamberlain School and Arden T. Litt Centre for Learning in Grassy Lake.

Students and teachers travelled for an hour to donate their time decorating and creating tree bags for diners. It’s the first time the school has had students volunteer at the LSCO. Decorating materials were provided by the LSCO and the students were given full artistic freedom.

Carla McNally, volunteer program assistant for LSCO, says she was excited to receive the call from Chamberlain teachers offering to help out. It ended up being their first stop before going across the parking lot to the Yates Memorial Centre/Sterndale Bennett Theatre for their “Rock The Halls” presentation.

Volunteers will be serving the turkey dinner at the centre on Christmas Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will also be deliveries made through Meals on Wheels. Volunteer positions are already full.

This will be the 40th straight year that the LSCO ha hosted the dinner for those who may not have family around them during the holidays The experience offers “a warm, friendly place on Christmas day itself, so people can feel like they’re having a Family Christmas dinner,” says Hannah Dupuis, fund development and marketing co-ordinator.

In previous years, the dinner has fed about 1,000 people, with 600 being in-house and 400 being delivered. Deliveries are made to on-duty police, firefighters and EMS, Wood’s Homes Youth Shelter and the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen.

The initiative is funded by donations and community sponsorships. Meal sponsorships can be made online or in person, which gives recipients of the meal a custom Christmas greeting from the person who sponsored their meal.

Donations can be made in person at the LSCO at -11 Street South or on the website at lethseniors.com/christmas/#donate.