More than 40 volunteers of all stripes turned out Sunday for an afternoon of giving.
The Prince George St. Vincent de Paul Society hosted their annual Easter dinner at the Sacred Heart auditorium - their largest holiday meal of the year.
There was enough turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, buns and dessert for 800 meals, said society chair Bernie Goold.
Goold said she was "deeply grateful" for the help offered by the volunteers, who ranged in age from teenager to senior citizen.
"Their participation means we are a community making things better for those in need," she said. "It's a real community effort."
A new member of the Easter dinner community was the Prince George Native Friendship Centre's Smokehouse restaurant. Chef Alan O'Reilly and his assistant Claudine Rennie cooked all the turkeys and stuffing while the cooking program at the College of New Caledonia pitched in by deboning the birds and concocting five large buckets of gravy.
"St. Vincent de Paul is only as strong as all of those who work to support us," said Goold, who added that preparing and serving the restaurant-style meal where diners don't have to line up for food kindles a good feeling.
There's typically a larger demand on Easter Sunday as opposed to Thanksgiving or Christmas, said Goold.
"At Christmas and Thanksgiving people think about staying home and think about their neighbours," she explained, whereas at Easter, people are more likely to leave town, enjoy the spring weather or not make as big a deal out of the day.
And when someone's on a fixed income, there's not a lot of wiggle room in the budget to spend money on a special dinner, Goold added.
Lil Eisner enjoyed her meal, and said she attends all of the special spreads the society lays out.
"I like the company," Eisner said. "We're always happy with the meal."
