Hundreds enjoy Thanksgiving dinner as Scott Mission serves up 'lovely community meal'

Hundreds of vulnerable people downtown received Thanksgiving dinner prepared by a Toronto charity on Monday.

Christy Morrow, chief development officer for the Scott Mission, said the organization prepared meals for unhoused people.

"We did 65 turkeys and 300 pounds of potatoes and so many different kinds of desserts," Morrow told CBC Toronto.

"It's lovely for them to have this lovely community meal to have together."

The Scott Mission is a Christian, non-denominational organization that helps poor, homeless, abandoned and vulnerable people in downtown Toronto.

Peter Duraisami, Scott Mission's chief executive officer, said more than 500 people were expected on Monday.

He said the number of people fed by the mission has grown significantly over the years.

"We've gone up to 300,000-plus meals, hot meals in a year. That's a jump of 109 per cent in the last few years," he said. 

"Something [is] dramatically changing in our city. The need is huge. You see the inflation, you see the numbers going up, whether it's food prices, whether it's travel, whether it's rental prices and the person who is on the streets, the person who is on fixed income is going through a very hard time.

"I've been at the mission for 33 years [and] I've not seen such changes," Duraisami said.

He said the current economic conditions forced Scott Mission to "really pivot and become what it needs to be at this time."

In August, the price of food purchased from stores increased by 6.9 per cent compared to last year. While that's still almost twice the overall inflation rate of four per cent, it's down from a recent high of more than 11 per cent.

On Thursday Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada's five largest grocery chains have delivered plans to stabilize food prices to the federal government.

The grocery chains are promising more discounts, price freezes and price-matching campaigns, Champagne said.

The CEO said the current economic conditions forced Scott Mission to "really pivot and become what it needs to be at this time."