Hamilton Good Shepherd serves Thanksgiving dinner to community struggling with inflation

Hundreds of Hamiltonians from all walks of life lined up Sunday afternoon for the Good Shepherd's 61st annual Thanksgiving dinner. 

Families, international students, people living in the city's shelter system and encampments, elderly people and single people looking for a Thanksgiving dinner were at the centre's 135 Mary Street location on Monday's chilly, windy afternoon. 

At the end of the 90 minute service, a handful of volunteers with helped serve 560 people a hot meal, pie, a chocolate bar and a bag of buns. 

Mike Troskot, director with Good Shepherd's men's centre, estimated last year the organization served just under 400 people. 

"Inflation and the cost of food, the rental market, the housing market — it's really expensive to pay for rent or a mortgage — and people know if they come here, there's a really nutritious, delicious meal and it helps them make ends meet," he said. 

Food prices continue to be costly for many. Statistics Canada reported last month that prices for food purchased from stores rose 6.9 per cent in August, down from an 8.5 per cent increase in July but still well above the month's headline inflation rate of four per cent.

Kenny Sedore and John Honyust, two friends who say they used to live at the Good Shepherd's men's centre, stopped by for a hot meal and a pack of buns. 

Sedore said he's stopped in for Thanksgiving a few times over the years and has noticed the turnout for the free dinner has grown, saying it has "doubled, maybe tripled" in recent years. 

"This place is a great resource centre to come down to if you're hungry," he said. 

Tabitha Palau said she picked up a Thanksgiving meal at the Good Shepherd after a shift working as a personal support worker. 

"I didn't want to be alone without turkey dinner," she told CBC Hamilton. 

Palau said she is currently living with her mother and son, who weren't with her for the holiday weekend. 

"It's not a good day to be by myself. I was at work but that's coworkers, not family," she said. "I love turkey and I'm very thankful." 

Greg McCausland, the kitchen supervisor at the Good Shepherd, says his kitchen serves a hot meal five to six nights a week, mostly to residents of the city's North End. 

McCausland said a regular night at the kitchen isn't too different from the annual Thanksgiving dinner. 

He said when he started before the pandemic, "We were serving about 150 people for the community meal every day." 

Back then, they were serving sub sandwiches. Now, they have a hot meal program and the number of people who come out for the meal has doubled. 

"We've seen our numbers grow from 150 to about 350 on the regular, so we're doing between 350 to 400 people in our community meals most of the time now," he said. 

And the people who visit for the yearly Thanksgiving dinner, McCausland said, come from all different backgrounds. 

"It seems as if we're a fixture in the regular lives of a large number of community members," he said.