Thunder Bay Salvation Army expects hundreds for holiday meal

Superior Morning7:10Salvation Army At Valhalla

This year's annual Salvation Army Christmas Dinner will be a little different than previous years. The meal will be prepared, served and eaten at the Valhalla Inn, which has donated it's staff and banquet room for the event

The Salvation Army in Thunder Bay, Ont. is expecting so many guests for its annual Christmas dinner, that its had to move the event off-site.

The Valhalla Inn, the regular sponsor of the holiday meal, has volunteered its ballroom for the turkey dinner, which is taking place on Sunday December 13. 

The Salvation Army is stretched for space at its Thunder Bay building, said Captain Lori Mitchell, and is unable to accommodate the expected crowd of more than 300 people. 

"We just don't have the space," she said.

"Our emergency shelter is over our numbers and we have to have people sleeping in overflow and it just makes it a little more difficult to be setting up for that many people, and we don't really have the physical space for that many people anyway," said Mitchell.

The Salvation Army would like to add an addition to its building, to ease the crowding, but in the meantime is managing with the space it has for regular operations, said Mitchell. 

"In an ideal world our dream would be to actually have a new building — this one, because of its age, has infrastructure issues. We're crossing our fingers and we're praying," she said.

The Salvation Army's free Christmas meal will be served at the Valhalla Inn on Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. It's offered to anyone feeling lonely, or weighed down by financial stress.

A shuttle bus service will run from the City Hall and Water Street bus terminals starting at 11:45 a.m. Sunday.